Today, the North Carolina Senate passed a second Hurricane Helene relief package, allocating another $644 million for storm recovery. When combined with the first relief package, the General Assembly has provided over $877 million for Hurricane Helene relief and over $917 million in total disaster relief for Hurricane Helene, Tropical Storm Debby, Potential Tropical Cyclone 8, and the tornado that hit Nash County.
The state’s seasonally adjusted September 2024 unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, remaining unchanged from August’s revised rate. The national rate decreased 0.1 of a percentage point to 4.1 percent.
RALEIGH — Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson was likely to lose the 2024 gubernatorial election to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein before the September 19 CNN piece tying him to a series of grotesque posts made more than a dozen years ago on a pornography site.
The state’s seasonally adjusted August 2024 unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, increasing 0.1 of a percentage point from July’s revised rate. The national rate decreased 0.1 of a percentage point to 4.2 percent.
Republicans in the North Carolina Senate approved legislation clearing the Opportunity Scholarship and ESA+ waitlists, requiring North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration detainers, and funding various items related to education, health, and infrastructure.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed suit Friday to have his name removed from North Carolina’s election ballot. Kennedy went to court a day after the State Board of Elections voted 3-2 to reject his request to drop his name from the list of presidential candidates.
Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) increased in 83 of North Carolina’s counties in July 2024, decreased in three, and remained unchanged in 14. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.8 percent while Dare County had the lowest at 3.2 percent.
Visitor spending continued to break records for North Carolina in 2023, according to data released Tuesday by the N.C. Department of Commerce. Travel spending statewide rose 6.9 percent to $35.6 billion in 2023 to set a record in visitor spending. That growth followed a record-breaking increase of 15 percent in 2022. Direct tourism employment also increased statewide by 4.8 percent to 227,000.
North Carolina is home to numerous healthcare companies and research institutions. The state’s biopharmaceutical industry generates about $80.2 billion worth of economic output and supports over a quarter million jobs, making its continued success critical to our state as well the larger national economy.