North State Journal Vol. 4, Issue 51

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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 51

SPORTS

WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020

NASCAR revs up with Daytona 500

ANDREW HARNIK | AP PHOTO

Democrats pivot to Nevada, South Carolina contests

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accompanied by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., left, takes the stage at campaign stop at the Whittemore Center Arena at the University of New Hampshire, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in Durham, N.H. Following the New Hampshire primary, Sanders has scheduled campaign rallies in Durham and Charlotte on Friday as early voting begins across the state this week.

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

Trump seeks big increase in careertechnical education money President Donald Trump is proposing a $900 million increase in education spending to teach skills and trades, in what would be a historic federal infusion into a spending area that’s been stagnant for years. “It’s maybe the largest investment in CTE ever,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said during a briefing to education groups after the administration released its budget proposal. Of the money, $680 million would flow through states to local schools and colleges through what’s called the Perkins program, named after longtime Kentucky congressman Carl Perkins. Career-technical advocates have long argued that spending on the grant program isn’t keeping up with rising costs. Jarrod Nagurka of the Association for Career and Technical Education said it would cost $400 million just to catch up with inflation over the past 15 years. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Internet outages take down central, eastern NC DMV offices A cut fiber line caused internet outages for Division of Motor Vehicles offices across portions of eastern and central North Carolina on Tuesday. A line was cut near Benson, affecting offices from areas surrounding Fayetteville, Wilmington and south of Raleigh, news outlets report, citing the N.C. Department of Transportation. The service interruption also affected some DMV online driver license and vehicle registration services, according to NCDOT. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Cash, coordination the focus of heated Democratic Senate primary Cunningham gets big national donors, Smith aided by mysterious PAC money By David Larson North State Journal

President’s $4.8 trillion budget proposal revisits rejected cuts By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump is offering a $4.8 trillion election-year budget plan that recycles previously rejected cuts to domestic programs like food stamps and Medicaid to promise a balanced budget in 15 years — all while leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched. Trump’s fiscal 2021 plan promises the government’s deficit will crest above $1 trillion only for the current budget year before steadily decreasing to more manageable levels, relying on optimistic economic projections, lower interest costs, scaled-back overseas military operations and proposed cuts to agency budgets that run counter to two separate budget deals signed by Trump. The budget “sets the course for a future of continued American dominance and prosperity,” Trump said in a message accompanying the document. “There is optimism that was not here before 63 million Americans asked me to work for them and drain the swamp,” Trump said. “For decades, Washington elites told us that Americans had no choice but to accept stagnation, decay, and decline. We proved them wrong. Our economy is strong once more.” The plan had no chance even before Trump’s impeachment scorched Washington. Its cuts to food stamps, farm subsidies, Medicaid and student loans

couldn’t pass when Republicans controlled Congress, much less now with liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., setting the agenda. Trump’s budget follows a familiar formula that exempts seniors from cuts to Medicare and Social Security while targeting benefit safety net programs for the poor, domestic programs like clean energy and student loan subsidies. It again proposes to dramatically slash funding for overseas military operations to save $567 billion over 10 years but adds $1.5 trillion over the same time frame to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent law. Trump’s budget would also shred last year’s hard-won budget deal between the White House and Pelosi by imposing an immediate 5% cut to non-defense agency budgets passed by Congress. Slashing cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and taking $700 billion out of Medicaid over a decade are also nonstarters on Capitol Hill, but both the White House and Democrats are hopeful of progress this spring on prescription drug prices. On Capitol Hill, Democrats controlling the House have seen their number of deficit-conscious “Blue Dogs” shrink while the roster of lawmakers favoring costly “Medicare for All” and “Green New Deal” proposals has swelled. The White House hasn’t done much to draw attention to this See BUDGET page A2

RALEIGH — In the Democratic primary race determining who will face Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, the top two contenders are facing last-minute scrutiny on who is backing their campaigns, and how. Cal Cunningham, who served one-term in the state Senate in 2000 and lost a Democratic pri-

mary for the U.S. Senate in 2010, is the presumed frontrunner. Current, multi-term state Sen. Erica Smith of northeastern N.C. is considered a viable alternative to Cunningham. Cunningham was a 2020 candidate for N.C. lieutenant governor until, according to Smith, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a national Democratic group led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, asked Cunningham to leave that race and join the Senate primary. Smith, an African American, See PRIMARY page A2

Trump promotes Opportunity Zones at Charlotte Summit By A.P. Dillon North State Journal CHARLOTTE — President Donald Trump recently visited Charlotte for the Opportunity Now Summit. “Today, we’re launching a brand-new nationwide campaign to revitalize underserved cities and towns all across America. It’s called ‘Opportunity Now.’ Opportunity Now. It’s a big deal,” President Trump said in his remarks. The Summit took place Friday, Feb. 7 and featured President Trump’s Opportunity Zone program, which provides tax incentives to businesses that invest in economically distressed areas. The program, which was spearheaded by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), seeks to support economic revitalization and job creation in these zones with an eye towards sustainable economic growth across the country. See CHARLOTTE page A2


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