The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is updating its visitation guidance for long-term care facilities to allow for in-person, indoor or outdoor, visitation in most circumstances. The change aligns with new guidance released this week from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reflects rapidly improving trends in long-term care facilities.
The state Senate has passed a new version of a bill that would require N.C. sheriffs to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two years after Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a similar effort.
Responding to COVID-19’s death, suffering, and loss, by necessity governments swept aside some rules that let patients get care from medical professionals who weren’t doctors. As we approach widespread immunity, either with vaccinations or COVID patients recovering, questions about whether these regulations that blocked patients from seeing health providers were needed. Period.
The $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill just enacted by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden gives out $1,400 checks to most Americans. It boosts the child-tax credit, keeps weekly unemployment-insurance checks $300 higher than normal, and throws lots of other (borrowed) money around.
The state’s seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, declining 0.2 points from December’s revised rate. The national rate declined 0.4 points to 6.3 percent.
The N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission voted unanimously last week to recommend the state award a 10-year contract for warehouse services to LB&B Associates, the target of an audit in 2018 that has over the previous years cost the state about $13.5 million.
North Carolina Main Street Champions will be recognized for their commitment to downtown revitalization and strong communities during a virtual recognition ceremony today.
Even as a bill to reopen schools across North Carolina garnered unanimous bipartisan support and was fast-tracked through the legislature, North Carolina’s teacher’s union released a statement blasting Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and lawmakers from both political parties for the compromise.
Thousands of North Carolina parents with school-age children will soon begin receiving additional assistance to purchase food through the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program, or P-EBT, which has been renewed for the 2020-21 school year.
On March 10, 2020 Governor Roy Cooper declared a State of Emergency for North Carolina due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on March 17, 2020, he closed schools, restaurants, and bars for in-person dining. The NCHSAA also suspended school sports.
