VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3
Sports
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2019
ACC Tournament returns to NC, B1
U.S. MARINE CORPS | CPL. NEYSA HUERTAS QUINONES
Four EA-6B Prowlers belonging to each Prowler squadron aboard Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point conducted a “Final Four” division flight aboard the air station March 1, 2016. The “Final Four” flight is the last time the Prowler squadrons will be flying together before the official retirement of Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Training Squadron 1 at the end of Fiscal Year 16 and the eventual transition to “MAGTF EW”. MAGTF EW is a more distributed strategy where every platform contributes to the EW mission, enabling relevant tactical information to move throughout the electromagnetic spectrum and across the battlefield faster than ever before.
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Blue Cross NC announces merger with Oregon insurer NSJ Staff Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Cambia Health Solutions, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, announced Tuesday a “strategic affiliation” between the two not-forprofit companies. According to a press release, the goal of the affiliation is “to improve quality, lower costs, and deliver an exceptional experience for consumers.” “We have to do something different to make health care better, simpler, and more affordable for the people we serve,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, President and CEO of Blue Cross NC. “By sharing resources, innovations, and best-in-class services we can fundamentally transform the way individuals and families experience the health care system.” “People and their families are hurting every day in the current health care system, longing for care focused on their needs,” said Mark Ganz, President and CEO of Cambia Health Solutions. “Together, we have the power to accelerate transformation, be a model for what is possible, and positively impact the lives of those we serve.” Blue Cross NC and Cambia’s health plans, which include Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueShield in Washington, Regence BlueShield of Idaho, and Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, will continue to be subject to all state regulations and requirements in their respective states, including rate review, to ensure consumer protection. Cambia’s Board of Directors will be made up of 10 members from Blue Cross NC’s current Board of Trustees and nine members from Cambia’s current Board of Directors. Blue Cross NC will retain its own separate Board of Trustees and name. Blue Cross NC and Cambia will retain their separate, tax-paying, not-forprofit corporate structures.
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NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Opioid-related deaths continue to impact NC communities By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — As North Carolina reels from its worst year of opioid overdoses in history in 2017, 2018 data is still being compiled and analyzed to determine if progress was made. Two drugs that were not well-known by the public until recently, are impacting the overdose epidemic — fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid which has spiked the number of deaths, and naloxone, an opioid agonist that can reverse overdoses which is being credited with saving lives. According to the CDC, “Fentanyl is a synthetic (man-made) opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.” Since the boom in illegally manufactured fentanyl hitting the streets, overdose deaths in North Carolina related to the drug went from 543 in 2016 to 1246 in 2017, more than doubling in a single year. Robert Childs, former director of the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, which plays a leading role in combating the overdose epidemic, told North State Journal, “The big issue is fentanyl is now in drugs where they are not expecting it. It’s like getting a glass of beer, but it’s actually filled with 100 shots of whiskey. We know, at the Harm Reduction Coalition, there’s a large amount of fentanyl in the North Carolina drug supply leading to an increase in overdose incidents. 2017 was pretty intense. The death data jumped
significantly, largely due to synthetic fentanyl. Fentanyl has been around, but not this much and for this cheap.” Fayetteville Police Captain Lars Paul calls it “an everchanging monster.” “We’ve seen a steady increase in opioids in general and over the last couple years it’s evolved from pills, to fake pills, to now more and more fentanyl.” Paul told NSJ. “They’ll add it [fentanyl] in with heroin to make it more potent, or with unrelated drugs like cocaine or methamphetamines, or in some cases, it’ll just be fentanyl by itself, with a cutting agent.”
End of an era: Last Prowler squadron is retired By A.P. Dillon North State Journal HAVELOCK — A March 8 ceremony held at the Cherry Point Marine Base in Havelock marked the retirement of the last Squadron of EA-6B Prowlers, the Death Jesters. The Death Jesters, who have been in service for 44 years, flew their final combat mission on Feb. 28 and had been deployed last year in support of military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2) had been active since 1977 and Lt. Colonel Andrew Rundle was the last acting VMAQ-2 Commanding Officer.
See PROWLERS, page A2
Pelosi waves off impeachment, says it would divide country By Mary Claire Jalonick The Associated Press
It is not just Waynesville or Fayetteville or North Carolina that is dealing with high death rates. Opioid overdose is now the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the entire United States, topping gun deaths and even car accidents. “Since the advent of the automobile, car accidents were always
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is setting a high bar for impeachment of President Donald Trump, saying he is “just not worth it” even as some on her left flank clamor to start proceedings. Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post that “I’m not for impeachment” of Trump. “Unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” she said. While she has made similar comments before, Pelosi is making clear to her caucus and to voters that Democrats will not move forward quickly with trying to remove Trump from office. And it’s a departure from her previous comments that Democrats are waiting on special counsel Robert Mueller to lay out findings from his Russia investigation before considering impeachment. That thinking among Democrats has shifted, slightly, in part
See OPIOIDS, page A2
See PELOSI, page A2
Waynesville, in the mountains, has also been hard hit, showing the geographic diversity of the problem. Chief Bill Hollingshead told NSJ, “When you look at per capita usage and per capita overdose death, we’re pretty high up on the list. We first noticed it about 11 years ago, when about one in four deaths in the county was due to opioid overdose. Which is incredible considering all the various causes of death the medical examiner can come back with.”
Rundle’s profile lists awards which include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal-Strike/ Flight (Numeral 21), Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2nd Award), Navy Achievement Medal (2nd Award), and the Army Achievement Medal. He has served with Prowler Squadrons since 2003 and the majority of his 3,200 flight hours have been in EA-6B Prowlers. According to the base’s website, Cherry Point’s operations included nearly 14,000 retired and active duty Marines, their families and civilians who work among them. The website says the annual payroll for Cherry Point has been estimated at over $1.2 billion, and