VOLUME 4 ISSUE 35
INSIDE
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019
Duke-UNC rivalry returns this week,B1
NASA VIA AP
In this photo released by NASA on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, U.S. astronauts Jessica Meir, left, and Christina Koch pose for a photo in the International Space Station. On Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, the two are scheduled to perform a spacewalk to replace a broken battery charger.
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Tax cuts advance through NC Senate Republicans leading the N.C. Senate are advancing two additional tax-related bills largely gleaned from the vetoed state budget. The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday passed, on a bipartisan basis, a bill that would increase the standard deduction for individual income tax filers next year by another $750 to $1,500 — essentially raising the zerotax bracket — and directs companies like Amazon to collect sales taxes on products offered through third-party retailers. Democrats opposed another bill that would reduce the corporate franchise tax rate by one-third by 2021. Republicans say franchise taxes are essentially duplicative property taxes on businesses.
Priest pleads guilty again to sexually abusing children A former Episcopal priest who was previously imprisoned for child sexual abuse has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexually abusing children in a different case. Howard White Jr., 78, pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of second-degree forcible rape, eight counts of second-degree forcible sex offense and seven counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. White was charged last year with abusing a boy and a girl in the 1980s while he worked at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville. Those charges came while he was serving an 18-month sentence for pleading guilty in 2017 to sexually assaulting a student in Boston while serving as chaplain at St. George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island.
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NORTH
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JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Lawmakers return with end of session in sight By Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH — The North Carolina General Assembly could soon be done wrestling with legislation this year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll pin down a broad budget law or path forward on Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers returned Monday following a roughly 10-day break. Senate leader Phil Berger said his chamber will be done with regular business by Oct. 31. House Speaker Tim Moore hasn’t committed publicly to that date, but it’s clear the end is near. This year’s session began nine months ago and by tradition was supposed to finish in July. Now a budget stalemate between Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper lasted all summer and into fall. GOP lawmakers lack veto-proof majorities but did not acquiesce to Cooper’s budget demands so the state budget has yet to be enacted in full. Republicans still have decisions on several other bills or vetoes unrelated to the budget. Cooper vetoed the legislature’s two-year state budget in June because it lacked Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of additional able-bodied adults. He also disliked lower business tax rates and wanted additional teacher raises beyond the increases agreed to by the legislature. Republicans have been unwilling to concede, blaming Cooper for derailing true negotiations by insisting on expansion. Cooper has said it needs to be on
the table but rejects that he’s unwilling to compromise. House Republicans managed to approve a veto override during an unexpected vote last month when most of the House Democrats were not in the chamber. Senate Republicans only need one Democrat to join them to complete the override, but Democrats there say they’re united. Berger and Moore sound willing to adjourn without a budget because Republicans have passed several narrow spending bills mimicking popular sections of the two-year budget. Cooper has signed all but one of those bills into law, whittling down his negotiating leverage to pass a broader budget to his liking. Berger said more consensus “mini-budgets” are possible, with top priorities including pay raises for teachers and higher-education system workers. “Once you get beyond that, I don’t know that there’s anything that there is ... a must-do,” he said. A revenue surplus could sweeten those salary increases. Medicaid expansion is a complicated proposition among Republicans. Senators led by Berger oppose the idea largely on fiscal grounds, even as proposals by both parties would require hospitals to pay the state’s 10% match to federal funds. Rural hospitals and residents — many in Republican-leaning areas — could benefit the most from the revenue guaranteed by expansion. Enough House Republicans support expansion that Moore See SESSION, page A2
NC State grad part of historic spacewalk By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s first all-female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on Friday, replacing a broken part of the International Space Station’s power grid. As NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir successfully completed the job with wrenches, screwdrivers and power-grip tools, it marked the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that men weren’t part of the action. They insisted they were just doing their job after years of training, following in the footsteps of women who paved the way. America’s first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, was delighted. She said it’s good to finally have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking for this
to happen. “We’ve got qualified women running the control, running space centers, commanding the station, commanding spaceships and doing spacewalks,” Sullivan told The Associated Press earlier this week. “And golly, gee whiz, every now and then there’s more than one woman in the same place.” President Donald Trump put in a congratulatory call from the White House to mark “this historic event ... truly historic.” “What you do is incredible. You’re very brave people,” Trump told them as they wrapped up their spacewalk. Replied Meir: “We don’t want to take too much credit because there have been many others — female spacewalkers — before us. This is just the first time that there See SPACEWALK page A2
Cooper’s out-ofstate travel records questioned By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper’s out-of-state travel has come into question after a news report that his office and the State Highway Patrol refused to turn over public records. The request related to information on two trips Cooper made to New York City on Jan. 31 and June 20 of this year. According to a WBTV report, Sgt. Chris Knox, a spokesman for the highway patrol, said the agency no longer completes forms EP25 for out-of-state travel and hasn’t since 2014. This explanation is contrary to travel records requested and received after 2014 by WBTV, which detail both inand out-of-state travel by former Gov. Pat McCrory. The office of the lieutenant governor also is afforded a state trooper detail and are subject to the same travel record filing. Jamey Falkenbury, director of communications for the Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, said in an email to See COOPER page A2