Rural North Carolina is continuing to adapt to the digital age where high-speed internet is essential. There is a powerful alley in this evolution with the Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has added new county demographic data for COVID-19 vaccinations to the vaccine data dashboard. Data on people who have received the first dose or both the first and second dose of the vaccine are available by race, ethnicity, gender and age group and can be filtered by county.
The N.C. General Assembly passed a bill Thursday, Feb. 4, that provides more than $2 billion in COVID aid across the state, most of it to public schools. The bill now heads to Gov. Roy Cooper, who held a press conference Thursday calling for hundreds of millions in more spending.
A bill seeking to extend a delay on payment deadlines for certain alcohol permits quickly cleared an N.C. House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
State lawmakers are trying again to eliminate the use of hand-held cellphones by operators of motor vehicles.
Attorney General Josh Stein today announced that he has reached a $573 million multi-state settlement with one of the world’s largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Company, resolving investigations into the company’s role in advising opioid companies how to promote their drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic. Attorney General Stein, who has made confronting the opioid epidemic one of his top priorities, played a lead role in negotiating the bipartisan settlement with a coalition of 53 attorneys general from around the country.
The North Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense Services has announced that its members voted to re-appoint Eric Zogry as the juvenile defender and Robert E. Sharpe as the capital defender during the Commission’s quarterly meeting on January 22, 2021.
Both political parties are throwing their weight behind school reopening in North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, urged schools to allow students to return to the classroom. Republican lawmakers also Tuesday, Feb. 2 moved to mandate in-person learning as an option for all K-12 students.
Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) increased in 55 of North Carolina’s counties in December, decreased in 28, and remained unchanged in 17. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 10.2 percent while Watauga County had the lowest at 4.3 percent.
When will North Carolina’s economy return to normal, or at least to a “new normal”? Unfortunately, that destination is many months away, if not years. Still, we’ll know we’re making progress when we can see the most damaging events of 2020 only in our rearview mirrors.
In response to COVID-19, Chief Justice Paul Newby issued an order today further extending time in certain bail bond forfeiture proceedings.
Attorney General Josh Stein and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita today took action to ensure state attorneys general can continue to fight against robocalls. Attorneys General Stein and Rokita led a bipartisan coalition of 35 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Lindenbaum v. Realgy. In their brief, the states argue that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s robocall ban was enforceable from 2015 to 2020. Fighting robocalls is one of Attorney General Stein’s top priorities.
