VOLUME 5 ISSUE 45
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
From the editor: Covering COVID-19 By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — As the new year approaches, reflections on what happened in 2020 permeate news websites and Facebook timelines. In that spirit, I wanted to take a moment and explain North State Journal’s coverage of COVID-19. As the coronavirus pandemic spread from China across Asia, Europe and eventually the
shores of our country, there was hope it would turn out to be like other respiratory viruses that threatened, but didn’t ultimately lead to, severe impacts — 2003’s SARS epidemic being one example. That, of course, didn’t happen. March 3 was a significant date in that the first person in the state tested positive for the virus on the day of the state’s primary elections. So much about the next eight
PHOTO COURTESY NCDHHS
months can be traced to what happened on that date. In a few more weeks, sports leagues paused, businesses sent their workers home, schools were thrust into remote learning, and the world as we knew it looked different. Covering what became, quite literally, matters of life and death was sobering. But getting answers from our government was uneven. After attending briefings from the state’s Emergency Operations Center, Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration shifted to virtual platforms that silenced questions from some outlets, ours included. In mid-April and May, frustration from those who depended on See COVID-19, page A2
ERIN SCHAFF
2020 not a typical year for news Impeachment, pandemic, riots, elections, Supreme Court fights: any could be a year’s top story By David Larson North State Journal A NORMAL YEAR in American politics is often defined by a single story that rises above the rest of the noise to grab the nation’s attention. But 2020 did not have one such story — it had several. The year began in the middle of an impeachment fight over whether President Donald Trump had improperly abused his power by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into Hunter Biden’s dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company. The Democrats’ first charge was that Trump inappropriately held military aid in the balance over the issue and only wanted it investigated to cause trouble for a political rival. The second charge was that the president impeded this investigation. While the U.S. House impeached Trump on these two charges (230-197 on the first charge and 229-198 on the second), the Senate, on Feb. 5, acquitted him 52-48 on the first charge and 5347 on the second. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was the only Republican to vote with the Democrats, and only on the first charge. How history will judge the charges will likely rely on further details on Hunter Biden’s lucrative position on the Burisma board, which continue to come out. Only a month later, the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest within the United States. This was not just a public health story, but touched every area of American life, including and especially politics. In early March, Trump banned travel from Europe, and by the end of the month, as the virus continued to spread, shutdowns were imposed in many states. The U.S. Congress passed a bipartisan $2 trillion relief package, called the CARES Act, to alleviate some of the economic pain being felt across the country as many places of work were deemed “nonessential.” The global pandemic has remained a central political issue for the year, with fights over the extent to restrict business, religious worship and other activities. Now, toward the end of 2020, multiple vaccines have been approved by the FDA and another aid package was brokered by Congress. While the country was adjusting to living under tightening restrictions, a new defining issue emerged in Minneapolis when a white police officer appeared to have caused the death of a black man, George Floyd, by putting a knee on his neck. This incident, caught on video and viewed by millions, sparked protests and rioting across the country for months. The news site Axios was provided data by the Insurance Information Institute that the damage from the riots would be between $1 billion and $2 billion, the most costly civil unrest in the nation’s history. The fallout elevated the protest movement known as Black Lives Matter, and soon, the phrase began to appear everywhere — from street murals and athletes’ jerseys to corporate advertising. The resulting racial advocacy was successful in reducing police budgets, removing statues of Confederate generals (and even founding fathers), and the renaming of at least two major league sports teams — the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians. With all this going on throughout the summer See 2020, page A2
JOHN MINCHILLO | AP PHOTO
Top left, Gov. Roy Cooper looks on as NCDHHS secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen gives a Covid-19 briefing. Top right, a staff member places a photo of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before a ceremony for her to lie in state in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Bottom, protesters gather at a memorial for George Floyd where he died outside Cup Foods on East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, Monday, June 1, 2020, in Minneapolis.
Education a major casualty of COVID-19 “There’s a lot on the plate for the new General Assembly.” Outgoing state Rep. Craig Horn (R-Union)
Lack of continuity of inperson instruction will likely ripple through the next decade
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — When the coronavirus hit North Carolina and Gov. Roy Cooper announced his statewide stay-at-home orders, one of the first casualties was public school students, and that has not really changed nine months later, heading into 2021. Early on, it became clear there was no continuity of education plans in place either at the state, local or school level for a disruption of instructions. Parents quickly found out what their districts could and could not do and what their children were and were not learning. The struggles in the last half of the 2019-21 school year were felt by every age student and their parents alike. Many children were unable to focus online or follow the often-changing ways lessons were assigned. Parents found themselves juggling working from home and having to monitor the attempt at online classes from their children. Work schedules clashed with class schedules, connectivity and device access, and the increasing amount of screen time took a toll on all involved. Teachers were equally frustrated by having to navigate teach-
ing in a virtual environment with few resources and, in most cases, little to no training. Relief from those struggles did not come with the new fall semester. Two weeks after his own announcement deadline, Cooper said schools could reopen under Plan B, a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction, but he also left the door open for the districts to choose Plan C, full remote instruction. With districts essentially allowed to choose which plan they would operate under, the chaos from spring returned, and along with it came no relief for special needs students, who saw a lack of daily participation and plummeting grades. Students with special needs who have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) were hit especially hard by school closures. The kind of hands-on instruction and various therapies these students need simply cannot be delivered over a laptop, so upset parents watched as their children regressed. Near the end of July, parents of special needs students banded together, filing a civil class action suit which named almost every state and federal education agency in the country, including all 100 school districts in North Carolina. Plaintiffs in the class action suit are seeking an injunction prompting an immediate reopening of schools to students with disabilities or a “Pendency Voucher” for educational serSee EDUCATION, page A4