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VOLUME 5 ISSUE 31
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Trump, Biden to make consecutive appearances in Charlotte Charlotte President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will both make visits to N.C. this week. Biden will appear first, on Wednesday, in his first campaign appearance in over 200 days in the state. Biden last appeared at a campaign event on Feb. 29 in Raleigh. Trump is scheduled to discuss healthcare in an appearance on Thursday, which will mark his fifth appearance in the state in the past five weeks. NSJ STAFF
N.C. DMV Surpasses 2 Million REAL IDs Issued Raleigh The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles issued its 2 millionth REAL ID license late last week. Starting Oct. 1, 2021, federal agencies will require a REAL ID, U.S. passport or another form of federallyapproved identification to board commercial airlines and to enter many federal buildings or facilities. The original date was Oct. 1 of this year, but it was delayed last spring due to COVID-19. Once someone has a REAL ID, noted by a gold star in a corner of a driver’s license or ID, it remains in effect even when it is time to renew. NSJ STAFF
NC native makes Supreme Court nominee short list Washington, D.C. Allison Jones Rushing, 38, is one of five women on President Donald Trump’s short list to be nominated to the Supreme Court. She is a native of Hendersonville and was confirmed 18 months ago to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. If confirmed, she would be the youngest justice since the early 1800s. Rushing graduated from Wake Forest University before attending Duke University, where she earned her law degree in 2007. She then clerked for future Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was then an appeals court judge, as well as at the Supreme Court for Justice Clarence Thomas. As an appellate specialist while in private practice at the Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington, D.C., Rushing filed scores of briefs with the Supreme Court. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NCDHHS Launches COVID-19 exposure app Raleigh The N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services launched a COVID-19 Exposure Notification app called “SlowCOVIDNC” on Sept. 22. The app will alert users when they may have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. SlowCOVIDNC leverages Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification System (ENS) and alerts users who have the app if they have been in close contact with an individual who later tests positive for COVID-19. The app completed Beta testing earlier this month and can now be downloaded for free through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. “North Carolinians have another powerful tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19 right in their pockets. Downloading SlowCOVIDNC is a practical step each of us can take to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our state,” said NCDHHS secretary Mandy Cohen. NSJ STAFF
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J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | AP PHOTO
Ginsburg mourned at Supreme Court steps People gather at the Supreme Court on the morning after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
White House adviser Peter Navarro says ‘economic nationalism’ critical to nation’s future he called the “China virus,” the novel coronavirus. The strategy focuses on vaccine development, RALEIGH — White House therapeutics, testing, and personal protective equiptrade and manufacment. Navarro said turing adviser Pehe has been especially ter Navarro said focused on PPE. he used to visit the “I personally High Point Furni- “Economic have been very acture Market when he security is tive working with the managed a furniture company in Cam- national security. textile alliance and companies such as bridge, Mass. while Even as we HanesBrands, Parkearning his PhD in fight to fend dale Mills, and Beveconomics at Harourselves from erly Knits. Through vard University. Defense Production “To pay my way the CCP virus Act Title III and the through I managed CARES Act, there’s a small furniture [COVID-19], we been tens of milcompany in Cam- are creating jobs lions of dollars and bridge, Mass. and some cases hundreds for a couple years I and rejuvenating went to High Point part of the textile of millions that will the state,” Nato buy chairs. And I industry in North benefit varro said. watched over time as He mentioned that industry and the Carolina… What local North Carolina we’re trying to do some of the large contracts awarded to craftsmen were driven out of the market in supply chain is companies producing PPE in the state, such by the Chinese,” Na- bring that back as HanesBrands, who varro said in an inreceived $322 million terview with North on shore, and if to produce 450 milState Journal. we’ve learning lion gowns and cloth Navarro, who anything in this face coverings, and is one of President Parkdale Mills, who Donald Trump’s top crisis, we’re received a contract economic advisers, dependent on worth $532 million said that North Carfor 60 million reusolina “in many ways China and India was at the front lines and other places, able isolation gowns. A report from of globalization and the Charlotte Busiwas one of the first and President states in the union Trump is working ness Journal said that North Carolito suffer the most on that.” na ranked eighth in in textiles and furthe nation in terms of niture,” a crisis that value for COVID-19 soon spread to other White House Trade emergency materials. industries across the and Manufacturing “Economic secucountry, such as aurity is national setomobiles and elec- adviser Peter Navarro curity. Even as we tronics. fight to fend ourAccording to Naselves from the CCP varro, North Carolina is now playing an import- virus [COVID-19], we are creatant role in President Trump’s See NAVARRO, page A2 four-vector strategy to fight what By Matt Mercer North State Journal
Race for governor features contrast of campaign strategies By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — As the election nears, North Carolina’s gubernatorial candidates are taking cues from their parties’ respective presidential candidates, with the Republican holding more in-person events and the Democrat keeping a lower profile. The challenger, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, has maintained an aggressive travel schedule, often with four or five campaign stops in different regions of the state on a given weekend. Forest made four stops in a swing across western North Carolina this past
weekend, with stops in Cherokee, Clay, Jackson and Yancey counties. Forest’s strategy mirrors the active travel schedule from President Donald Trump, who made his fourth appearance in the state in the past four weeks in Fayetteville on Saturday. The Forest campaign has also embraced mainstays of grassroots campaigning, with teams of volunteers swarming neighborhoods with yard signs, and the latest move, a billboard campaign throughout the state. “DAN FOREST WILL OPEN NC,” says one of the billboards, See GOVERNOR, page A2
How much did summer protests and riots cost North Carolina taxpayers? State Highway Patrol spent over $300,000; Raleigh Police over $1.4M By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Throughout the month of June, protests and riots associated with the death of George Floyd took place in multiple cities in North Carolina. Many of the protests spanned several days and were often followed by looting, arson and property damage to public property and businesses. North State Journal has received information from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) pertaining to manhours and costs. First Sergeant Michael Baker with the NCSHP responded to our requests, noting that due to security reasons he couldn’t provide the number of officers deployed to each protest nor the number of officers protecting the governor on the dates we inquired about. “We are very fortunate to report we have not had any members injured during the protests in question,” said Baker in an email to North State Journal, which included details of the cost and manpower hours associated with the protests. A breakdown of the data from NCSHP by protest location shows that between manhours and gas usage, protests in nine locations around the state cost a total of $304,695. Just over 8,390 man-
hours were worked by NCSHP officers covering the riots and protests, costing taxpayers $273,505. Additionally, $31,189 was spend on gas for NCSHP vehicles. See PROTESTS, page A2