VOLUME 5 ISSUE 26
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Active COVID-19 cases lowest since June Raleigh The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said that over 127,000 COVID-19 patients are presumed to have recovered from the virus as of Aug. 17. The number of active cases, determined when the reports of presumed recoveries are made public on Mondays, shows between 16,000 and 17,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. NSJ STAFF
Trump issues pardon for women’s suffrage leader Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump targeted voters in key states and constituencies Tuesday and promised a pardon for Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement. Trump said he would sign “a full and complete pardon” for Anthony, on the date of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which ensured women the right to vote. Anthony was arrested for voting in Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NCDEQ denies permit for major project Raleigh The N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources has denied the request for a 401 Water Quality Certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project. Citing uncertainty surrounding the completion of the MVP Mainline project, NCDEQ said it has determined that work on the Southgate extension could lead to unnecessary water quality impacts and disturbance of the environment. The MVP Mainline project would terminate in southern Virginia and provide natural gas for delivery to North Carolina through the MVP Southgate project. “The Cooper administration is waging an undeclared war on the economic vitality of rural North Carolina,” state Sen. Phil Berger (R-Eden) said of the decision. NSJ STAFF
Va. state senator charged with ‘injury’ to Confederate monument Norfolk, Va. A Virginia state senator has been charged with damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when a statue was torn down, authorities said Monday. Sen. Louise Lucas faces charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $1,000, Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene said during a news conference. The protest occurred in June. Lucas is a longtime Democratic legislator, joining the chamber in 1992. Her attorney, Don Scott, said Lucas will “vigorously” fight the case and be vindicated. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belarus president remains defiant as strikes widen Minsk, Belarus More workers in Belarus joined a widening strike as they press for the resignation of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has extended his 26-year rule in an election the opposition says was rigged. “The authorities should understand that they are losing control,” head of independent miners’ union Yuri Zakharov told The Associated Press. “Only Lukashenko’s resignation and punishment of those in charge of rigging and beatings can calm us down. “The strike will continue and grow until he steps down.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Forest, Trump Jr. team up at coastal fishing tournament Lt. Gov. Dan Forest reeling in a fish aboard the Waterman as Donald Trump Jr. and other anglers look on. Forest and Trump were fishing in the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament in Manteo, N.C.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
What is pod learning and why are they putting districts on the defensive? Districts providing uneven learning options chastise with “learning centers”
is all about helping kids navigate remote instruction and stay on track. Other pods used by homeschools or micro-schools are self-directed by the family. In By A.P. Dillon this scenario, students are not enNorth State Journal rolled at all in a traditional pubRALEIGH — Parents nation- lic, charter or private school setwide, and in North Carolina, have ting. All curriculum and means of been put in the awkward and frus- instruction are determined by the trating position of trying to find parents, who usually are also the education options or some type of teachers. In N.C., interest in pods is in-person instruction supplement the often uneven “remote instruc- growing rapidly. So far, there four tion” being provided by school dis- main chapters groups have been identified in Cabarrus County, tricts. Many people may be see- Charlotte, Durham, and Raleigh. ing the terms “pod,” “pandemic The families engaged in these pod,” or “micro-school” popping chapters come from different racial backgrounds, soup with regard to altercioeconomic statusnative education options. es and many of them But what are they? Simhave multiple children ply put, these terms all “Since in K-12. refer to the same basic Some school disconcept, which is a small when did tricts have warned group of students gather- it become parents against forming together for instrucing pods and mition, usually led by a par- a crime to cro-schooling, yet also ent, but in some cases, a want more aren’t allowing stuhired tutor or teacher. dents to attend school Pods usually are kids for your for in-person instrucof the same general age child?” tion. Some of those group or class grade level same districts, howevand typically form withGuilford er, are drawing critiin a neighborhood or cism for offering spesimilar area. The idea of County parent cial accommodations pods has exploded due to Stephanie for certain students. the COVID-19 pandemMitchell “My district has ic and uncertainty of pubset up what they call lic school operations, but “learning centers” they are not new. Homewhere certain famischool families over the years have often utilize such a lies get to pay a fee for in-person education and activities using model. Not all pods or micro-schools school facilities [that] my tax dolare the same, in fact, they all tend lars pay for, but my kids can’t go to very different. There is, how- to school?” a Durham-area parent ever, a basic distinction between who wished not to be identified pods that are for learning support told North State Journal. “That’s and a family or self-directed pod, not just frustrating, it’s hypocritwhich are formed to take the place ical.” Durham Public Schools (DPS) of traditional public schooling. A learning support pod is is charging a $35 registration fee where a child stays enrolled in on top of weekly fees that start at their school but the kids in the pod $140 for regular students, $105 work together on their lessons re- for students with family memmotely with the help and supervision of a parent. This type of pod See EDUCATION page A3
DeJoy: No operational changes in Postal Service before election Charlotte and Greensboro ask the public for help By Matthew Daly The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would suspend his initiatives until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.” The abrupt reversal comes as more than 20 states, from New York to California, announced they would be suing to stop the changes. The states, along with lawmakers and others, want to ensure voters are able to use mail-in ballots if they prefer to avoid polling places due to health risks from COVID-19. “The Postal Service is ready to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives,” DeJoy said in
a statement. DeJoy will appear Friday before the Senate to testify on initiatives and service changes that lawmakers and others have claimed could imperil the November election. Democrats and say actions by the new postmaster general have endangered millions of Americans who rely on the post office to obtain prescription drugs and other needs, including an expected surge in mail-in voting this fall. DeJoy, who has over 30 years of experience in logistics and is a former supply-chain CEO, took over the Postal Service in June. “I want to make the post office great again,” President Donald Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” Later at the White House, he denied asking for a mail-delivery slow down. See USPS page A2
Universities scramble to deal with virus clusters NSJ staff A MAJOR North Carolina university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates just a week into the fall semester as the school and other campuses around the U.S. scrambled to deal with coronavirus clusters linked in some cases to student housing, off-campus parties and packed bars. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said it will switch to remote learning on Wednesday and make arrangements for students who want to leave campus housing. “We have emphasized that if we were faced with the need to change plans — take an off-ramp — we would not hesitate to do so, but we have not taken this decision lightly,” it said in a statement after reporting 130 confirmed infections among students and five among employees over the past week. UNC said the clusters were discovered in dorms, a fraternity house and other student housing. Before the decision came down, the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, ran an editorial headlined, “UNC has a clusterf—k on its hands,” though without the dashes. The paper said that the parties that took place over the weekend were no surprise and that administrators should have begun the semester with online-only instruction at the university, which has 19,000 undergraduates. University of North Carolina System president Peter Hans said, “The decision to adapt operations applies to UNC-Chapel Hill only, because no other UNC
System institution has reported information, at this time, that would lead to similar modifications,” earlier this week. “All students must continue to wear facial coverings and practice social distancing as part of their personal responsibility, particuSee VIRUS page A2