VOLUME 5 ISSUE 20
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2020
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Antibody study shows 12-14% of population exposed to virus Winston-Salem An antibody study funded in part by the General Assembly now has over 18,000 participants. Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium Health’s Community Research Partnership has a goal to enroll more than 500,000 with interest in enrolling a representative demographic, including the elderly (age 65 and older), youth (age 17 and younger) and racial/ ethnic minority groups. The data updated at the end of June shows positive antibody tests, as a percentage, is 12-14% among the two different types of antibodies. NSJ STAFF PHOTO VIA JOHN MCALPINE
Judge grants preliminary injunction, allowing bowling alleys to operate Raleigh An N.C. Business Court judge ruled in favor of state bowling alleys who sued Gov. Roy Cooper over his executive order that kept them closed while other businesses were allowed to open. Judge James L. Gale issued the preliminary injunction, which allows the bowling alleys and members of the North Carolina Bowling Proprietors Association to resume operations so long as certain guidelines and restrictions are followed. Cooper asked that the court grant a stay until a higher court could hear an appeal. A.P. DILLON
Mountain State Fair canceled due to COVID-19 Fletcher North Carolina’s agriculture commissioner announced Tuesday that the 2020 Mountain State Fair has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fair was scheduled to take place from Sept. 11-20 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Commissioner Steve Troxler cited the health and safety of visitors and staff and said social distancing would be difficult to enforce, news outlets reported. The event has drawn more than 60,000 people during past opening weekends and drew 171,000 total visitors last year. This is the first year since the fair was founded that the event has been completely canceled, Troxler added. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Australia warns of ‘arbitrary detention’ risk in China Canberra, Australia Australia warned its citizens that they may be at risk of “arbitrary detention” if they visit China, in a move that will further test strained bilateral relations. The warning comes after Australian media reported that Beijing law professor Xu Zhangrun, a Chinese Communist Party critic who completed his doctorate at Australia’s Melbourne University, was detained in China on Monday. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government was considering a safe haven offer to Hong Kong residents threatened by Beijing’s new national security law. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richmond continues Confederate statue removal Richmond, Va. Work crews on Tuesday took down a monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, the third major statue to be cleared away in less than a week in the city that served as the Confederacy’s capital. Mayor Levar Stoney, citing his emergency powers on July 1, ordered the removal of all cityowned Confederate statues. Stuart’s has been the last major statue left standing, other than a massive monument to Gen. Robert E. Lee which sits on state land. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trump Boat Parades show support for president Over the 4th of July weekend, organized 'boat parades' took to the state's waters in Lake Norman, Wrightsville Beach, and more.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Council of State meeting gets heated over utilitycutoff executive orders Between April and May, 878,941 residential customer accounts were eligible to be disconnected due to nonpayment
Attorney General Josh Stein grant the city a waiver from the order. Weeks later, with no response, the city manager issued a warning in a press release. “The Attorney General has still not granted our justifiable waiver. The Elizabeth City Council can By A.P. Dillon no longer wait on Governor CooNorth State Journal per or AG Stein to grant the waivRALEIGH — Unless collec- er,” said City Manager Rich Olson tions of utility payments are al- on June 30. Olson warned that the lowed to resume soon, a num- city “will start sending out bills ber of utility providers in the state and expect our residential customers to begin paycould be facing bankrupting them under the cy due to one of Gov. Roy following terms and Cooper’s COVID-19-relatconditions.” ed executive orders. Quickly after that Cooper initially ad- “We need release, Stein granted dressed utility services in to push the Elizabeth City a condiExecutive Order 124 on tional waiver. March 31, which banned power from Part of the orders utility companies from Raleigh pertaining to utilicharging late fees, interback into ties required certain est, or terminating acmonthly reporting by counts due to non-pay- these local ment. It also allowed communities the NC Utilities Commission. That data is residential customers at collected in order to least six months to ar- who know assess the impact of range to pay any of their these cities the governor’s execuoutstanding bills. The first tive orders on operaorder was to last 60 days and citizens tions. and also suspended evic- better than sent a lettions. The order also apanyone else." terNCUC to the governor plied statewide regardon June 19 which reless of income loss due to COVID-19. State Treasurer ported figures spanning May 1 to May 31. Cooper later issued EO Dale Folwell In that letter, NCUC 142, which extended the stated that 453,487 prohibitions in EO 124 on additional residential disconnecting customers and continued to bar utilities from customers were eligible for discollecting fees, penalties or inter- connection due to non-payment est for late payments. The result of but were not disconnected. That these orders has been an increas- was an increase of 28,033 from ing number of customers not pay- the first report in May. According to the NCUC report, ing their bills at all, which is causing a financial meltdown for many between April and May, there were 878,941 residential customer utility operations. EO 142 is set to expire on July accounts eligible to be disconnect29, 2020, which may be too late ed, with late fees and penalties tofor some citizen-owned utilities, as taling $10,039,546. During that was the case with Elizabeth City’s, same time period, 55,985 non-reslocated in Pasquotank County. idential customers were eligible The city was one of the first re- for disconnection, with late fees ported to have reached a break- and penalties of $1,287,231. “As of May 31, Utility Service ing point. Facing over 2,200 delinquent utility accounts, and with Providers report an aggregate of the electric fund set to be depleted $253,372,377 in residential and by August, the city was reportedly non-residential customer arrearlooking at electric rate increases of ages,” the NCUC letter reads. “Of this reported amount, approxiup to 46% to compensate. Elizabeth City officials voted on June 8 to request that Cooper and See UTILITY page A2
Parents, districts take lead on school plans as state delays guidance It is unclear whether Gov. Roy Cooper will direct classes to meet remotely, in-person or a mixture of both
By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — For North Carolina teachers and parents with school-aged children, lack of official guidance from the state on how districts should proceed for the 202021 school year, now only weeks away, is leading some to begin making decisions irrespective of word from above. In early June, Gov. Roy Cooper had directed school districts to come up with three plans: one if learning were to take place solely on campus, one if learning were going to be done remotely, and another if schools were allowed to welcome students back to campus, but at reduced capacity and with greater social distancing. Cooper said that after schools organized these plans, he would make an announcement July 1 to recommend which of these three options the state would direct schools to use. But on July 1, Cooper instead announced there would be no announcement on the subject, saying simply, “We’re not issuing a statewide directive today on how schools should open in the fall, but we will soon.” An Elon University Poll, released on July 1 as well, showed N.C. residents fairly evenly split between the three options, with the smallest segment being in favor of a purely online plan. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many see remote learning as the safest option, but the poll showed only 29% wanted this completely remote return, while 34% wanted a full-time onsite return, and 38% called for a mix of the two. Cooper’s office indicated it needed more time to review data and to consult on the matter. The governor’s comments during the press conference suggest he agrees with the majority in the poll, who want some level of in-person learning. “Let me be clear: We want our schools open for in-person instruction in August,” Cooper said at last Wednesday’s press conference. “The classroom is the best place for children to learn — recent reports recommend it, and I know many parents and children agree.” Senate Bill 704, a bipartisan omnibus bill to deal with many areas of government response to the pandemic, requires schools to open Aug. 17, a week earlier than is typical. This earlier start puts additional pressure on schools to prepare, and many are beginning to move ahead with plans separate from the governor’s timeline. The Wake County School Board voted unanimously on July 2 to move forward with the mixed plan. According to Wake County Public School System Superintendent Cathy Moore, the plan will be more difficult to implement than the fully on-campus or fully remote learning plans, and it requires students to rotate in and out of in-person classes
“Families are uncertain if the public schools will be able to serve their needs for school this fall. The pandemic schooling at home gave them the opportunity to see that they could home-school, and now they are choosing to do it intentionally.” Robert Bortins, Classical Conversations Inc. CEO over a three-week period, with twothirds of students always at home. Two Wake County teachers, speaking to NSJ on the condition of anonymity, approved of the school system’s decisiveness. One teacher told NSJ that the fact that the county had at least picked one of the three plans helped to bring teachers some clarity, “although we know things might change when the governor makes a decision.” A second said the plan that’s being put in place this year for the county, which includes some faceto-face time, will allow for more accountability than what was in place at the end of last school year, saying it “inspires more confidence than the prospect of strictly remote learning for the foreseeable future.” Some parents aren’t waiting to see which of the options will be selected and are instead taking matters into their own hands. On July 1, the same day that the governor See SCHOOLS page A2