VOLUME 5 ISSUE 10
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Biden accuser spoke to neighbor of alleged assault Washington, D.C. An associate of Tara Reade, a former Senate aide to Joe Biden, says Reade told her about her allegations of sexual assault against Biden — now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee — in the 1990s. Lynda LaCasse, who was Reade’s neighbor in the 1990s, says Reade told her about the alleged assault around the time it happened. “She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn’t feel there was anything she could do,” LaCasse said. A.P. DILLON | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pandemic Electronic Benefits Program rolled out to help feed NC kids Raleigh A new program is being rolled out to help keep kids fed while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in North Carolina. Pandemic Electronic Benefits Program (P-EBT) is a new program for families who have a child that receives a free and reduced lunch at school. The program will help families buy groceries for the more than 800,000 children who typically receive free and reduced lunch at school. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction worked together to request activation of the P-EBT program. Families will receive $257 in P-EBT benefits per child. A.P. DILLON
Court tosses NY case that could have expanded gun rights Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court sidestepped a major decision on gun rights Monday in a dispute over New York City’s former ban on transporting guns. The court ruled that the city’s move to ease restrictions on taking licensed, locked and unloaded guns outside the city limits, coupled with a change in state law to prevent New York from reviving the ban, left the court with nothing to decide. The court asked a lower court to consider whether the city’s new rules still pose problems for gun owners. Lower courts upheld the regulation, but the Supreme Court’s decision early in 2019 to step into the case signaled a revived interest in gun rights. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dr. Sharon Gaber named fifth chancellor of UNC Charlotte Charlotte University of North Carolina System Interim President Bill Roper named Dr. Sharon L. Gaber as the fifth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Gaber currently serves as president of the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, and is recognized nationally for her efforts to increase enrollment, improve graduation and retention rates, and keep education affordable. “Sharon Gaber’s impressive career at each level of education made her stand out as the ideal candidate to lead UNC Charlotte into its next phase of success,” said Roper. “I have great confidence that the university will continue to grow and develop under her strong leadership.” Gaber will succeed Philip L. Dubois, who will retire on June 30. She will be the second woman to lead the institution, following in the footsteps of university founder and philanthropist Bonnie Cone. NSJ STAFF
Protesters from across the state fanned out in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday to protest the statewide stay-at-home order from Gov. Roy Cooper. The movement, which began organizing with Facebook, now boasts 70,000 members. The General Assembly returned on Tuesday to pass COVID-19 related bills.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
A weekend listening to ‘911 for pets’ Area vets provide afterhours emergency hotline By Shawn Krest North State Journal IT’S ONLY NATURAL that one of the calls to the hotline would be concerning the threat of a highly-contagious viral outbreak. “My dog gave birth to a litter last weekend,” the caller said, “and I just found out that one of the puppies died of parvo.” Parvo is a gastro-intestinal disease caused by the canine parvovirus. It’s believed to be up to 91% fatal if not treated. The caller was convinced her new-mom dog had it. “She’s acting like she doesn’t feel well,” she said, without providing specifics. The concerned dog owner is calling the Our Vet hotline, a number connecting several veterinarian offices and animal hospitals in North Carolina, ranging from Raleigh and Cary to Asheboro. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitals have closed to routine animal care but are still available for emergencies for limited hours during the week. Nights and weekends, all the office phones are routed to Our Vet, which is staffed by some of the vet techs who have seen their in-office hours slashed over the last two months. The vet techs working the phones have access to each animal hospital’s reservations system, so they can book ap-
pointments during the week, if necessary. The software allows them to access the computer at each clinic’s front desk, to the point that a user can spy on the office’s internet searches in real-time using the software. Many of the calls to the pet 911 line are fairly pedestrian. Callers ask when they can come in to pay their bills or inquire about the price of spaying a dog, then casually ask whether the animal really needs to be spayed. Others are clear emergencies that need to be routed to a 24/7 animal hospital in Raleigh — there are none currently operating near Greensboro. One caller said he was pretty sure his dog broke his leg. Another had a dog who had been in labor for more than 24 hours. “I’m pretty sure she needs a c-section,” he said. Still another had a mare who had just gone into labor. Unlike a pre-pandemic veterinarian’s office, most of the callers don’t share their pet’s name. If someone is calling at 10:30 on a Saturday night or before 7 a.m. on a Sunday, the situation is likely too dire for such pleasantries. Instead it’s, “I think my dog swallowed something,” or “Something’s wrong with the cat.” Incidentally, perhaps emphasizing the stereotypical loyalty and independence of the two species, callers almost always refer to “my dog” and “the cat.” Saturday afternoons and early evenings seem to be a time for callers who put off a Friday See PETS page A2
AP PHOTO
Protesters descend on Raleigh for third week in a row Protesters say Cooper’s order is ‘unconstitutional,’ vow not to follow it By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Protesters with ReOpenNC descended on Raleigh for the third week in a row in protest of Gov. Roy Cooper’s recently extended stay-at-home order, demanding businesses be allowed to open. Last week’s protest was attended by multiple elected officials, including the Republican Congressman Dan Bishop, who represents N.C.’s Ninth District. The message this week was the same though — to open the state up for business by May 1.
A sea of signs and protesters filled Jones Street in front of the General Assembly, which came back into session today. A large number of signs contained pleas from small business owners to reopen while others asked the governor to recognize that both they and their businesses are “essential.” A set of counter-protesters showed up as well, some wearing medical scrubs and lab coats. The counter-protesters stood across the street from the ReOpenNC protesters, but at times there was yelling back and forth between the two. ReOpenNC protesters eventually headed to the General Assembly and flooded the patio area, with the See PROTEST page A2
Results coming soon from NC legislaturefunded antibody study By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — After requesting antibody testing of a representative sample of North Carolina’s population for many weeks, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) was able to utilize $100,000 from a General Assembly discretionary account to fund a Wake Forest Baptist Health study with this purpose. Berger’s deputy chief of staff, Pat Ryan, told NSJ in an April 24 interview that initial results from the study will be available to the public in the next “week or two.” The study, now underway, relies on data gathered from 1,000 at-home antibody kits which are being mailed to residents specifically selected to be part of the sample. “This groundbreaking Wake Forest Baptist Health study, led by Dr. John Sanders, will fill a critical data gap that’s been missing for many weeks, and will help us learn if the true situation is better or worse than the models project,” Berger said in a statement. “Nobody knows the true hospitalization and fatality rates for this virus, even as the government has ordered a full-scale economic shutdown.” Sanders and Dr. David Herrington of Wake Forest Baptist Health will be working with Atrium Health, Scanwell Health, Oracle, Javara and others to produce and analyze the data. Berger’s press release said the money comes from a fund for “legislative operations and business,” and the data will be used to “help legislators make decisions in the coming weeks.” “Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium Health are leading the way in pioneering a representative sample antibody study,”
Sanders said. “Coupled with state-of-the-art syndromic surveillance and in collaboration with leading health care providers and companies, our work will help fill a data gap that has existed since the start of the pandemic. I’m grateful to the North Carolina legislature for providing us with up-front funding so we can begin this critical project.” See ANTIBODY page A2