CLOSE GUN LOOPHOLES, DON'T OPEN MORE AND MAKE THINGS MORE DANGEROUS: Who are we to believe? North Carolina Republican legislators, who have a legacy of enacting laws that courts have declared racially biased and now say they’re looking to rid the state of a vestige of the racist Jim Crow era by repealing the state’s statutes requiring county sheriffs to issue pistol permits after background checks from applicants. Or … Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – North Carolinians who know and lived Jim Crow first-hand – or the Duke University Center for Firearms Law, who say “statements that North Carolina’s permit law was purely racist or solely intended to disarm Black citizens don’t hold up to close historical scrutiny and often do a disservice to the quality of debate and discussion surrounding modern legislative proposals like the current push to repeal the law.” While other parts of Senate Bill 41 have laudable objectives – such as a campaign to distribute gun safety locks and stress the importance of safe and secure storage of firearms – the case can’t be made for the main objectives of the bill. They are shameless in their blatant and obvious hypocrisy, using this Jim Crow argument. But even worse than that is their callous disregard for the lives of innocents that would be sacrificed on the altar of the NRA-fueled drive to put more guns in the hands of those who would misuse them. It's a win/win for the gun lobby, because an increase in shootings will sell even more guns, as the fear ratchets up. Any Dem who votes to override Governor Cooper's Veto will have blood on their hands, and a well-supported Primary challenger.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-close-gun-loopholes-don-t-open-more-and-make-things-more-dangerous/20...

GOVERNOR COOPER OFFERS THE NC LEGISLATURE A PRESCRIPTION IT MUST FULFILL: “A responsibility to learn from adversity and make things better,” he said as he opened his State of the State Address Monday evening in the House Chamber of the State Legislative Building which is celebrating its 60th year of occupancy. Cooper harkened to another milestone of that time – the establishment of the Research Triangle Park – demonstrating “the foresight and resolve to invest in new ideas that have revolutionized our state impacting the generations that followed.” The style and presentation were in keeping with the way Cooper’s governed – pressing for cooperation, conciliation and investment in the future while eschewing confrontation, partisan cheap shots and unproductive lamentations on a false past. Along with his concern over the 25 years of procrastination in meeting the needs of North Carolina’s school children, Cooper rightly called on legislators to end the decade-long refusal to expand Medicaid and do it now -- without their planned delay. “Every month we wait to expand, not only cost lives, but costs our state more than $521 million a month in federal healthcare dollars,” he said, adding the warning that “if we don’t expand soon, we forfeit an additional $1.8 billion.” That is bad management that hurts the state budget no differently than failure to expand Medicaid has hurt more than 600,000 North Carolinians who haven’t been able to access the health care they need. Avoiding any direct confrontation or bullying finger-pointing, Cooper did take note of the kinds of legislation that, in the first weeks of the legislative session, has taken top priority. Cooper noted that when he took office six years ago, one of the first acts was to do away with the ill-conceived and costly so-called “bathroom bill” that resulted in cancelled economic development projects and moved or cancelled billions of dollars in convention, athletic championship and tourism business. “I challenge the General Assembly to keep us off the frontlines of those culture wars that hurt people and cost us jobs so we can continue our successful bipartisan work.” And I challenge Democratic members of the General Assembly to stand behind the Governor when he decides to oppose certain potential laws. Hold the line, or our Democracy will be further eroded.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-cooper-offers-n-c-legislature-a-prescription-it-must-fulfill/20750469/

CHANGE TO "CERTIFICATE OF NEED" SHOULDN'T IGNORE THOSE MOST IN NEED OF CARE: Recently ECU Health announced that it was closing five regional clinics serving women and families in largely rural areas in the eastern part of the state after facing a loss of $46 million last year. There is a reason why the state’s certificate of need program functions to assure a certain economic return for health care providers -- so everyone, regardless of where they live or what their economic status, will have access to the medical services they need. It is not a far-fetched notion that without regulations like certificate of need, medical entrepreneurs would establish services and clinics in the areas of greatest potential profit. As a result, rural or impoverished areas and those without the means to pay for services, would likely be left with even fewer possibilities to find the care they need. Linking the much-needed and too-long delayed expansion of Medicaid to alterations in the state’s certificate of need regulation isn’t about healthcare but about politics. The two issues should be dealt with separately. There is no excuse for any further delay in providing care to the more than half-million North Carolinians who have lacked access for decades – especially with a viable solution available over the last 14 years. Was talking with somebody the other day who brought up the GOP's stubbornness in refusing to embrace an Obama policy. But it's even worse than that. Those who would be served under Medicaid expansion are the working poor, the ones who don't earn enough to qualify for premium supplements. In other words, the people who can't afford to give max donations to candidates' campaign war chests. Blocking Medicaid expansion, or using it as a vehicle to push other policies, are exercises in genuine elitism; something Republicans claim to abhor. But their actions undermine that claim every day we go without expanding Medicaid.
https://www.wral.com/robert-bilbro-change-to-certificate-of-need-shouldn-t-ignore-those-most-in-need...

SCHOOLS ARE FOR LEARNING, NOT A BATTLEFIELD IN A "CULTURE WAR": The data on the status of public education in North Carolina is shocking. More than 5,000 North Carolina classrooms without teachers. Fewer substitutes are available, many lack necessary teaching qualifications to do more than monitor classrooms. 10% of the buses don’t have drivers to get students to school. Shortages of nurses and counselors abound. These dire circumstances plague school districts large and small, urban and rural. No school, no system is immune. What kind of urgency do our state legislators bring to this crisis? None. They’re obsessed with waging their so-called culture war. In a state where there aren’t enough teachers for every classroom, the first topic on the agenda was legislation to prevent teachers from talking about certain subjects. Regretfully, North Carolina’s legislative leaders choose to play politics with their partisan base. They promote a facade of parental involvement while short-changing the schools their children attend. Stop the rhetoric and antics. End the disruptive tactics and start now to make the prudent decisions and investments in the education of students, the quality of those who lead their classrooms and the resources these students and teachers need so they have the quality learning opportunities they’ve been promised. Education is the cornerstone of a healthy economy, and it's even more critical in a state that is trying to evolve from textile and furniture manufacturing to higher tech 21st century operations. We need leaders who understand that, not bible-thumping demagogues.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-schools-are-for-learning-not-battlefield-for-culture-war/20707466/

WHAT NC'S REGIONAL TEACHERS OF THE YEAR WANT YOU TO KNOW: Clinton Todd: "I would want our audience to know that our most underrepresented populations have value and worth, and there's so much potential there if we just invest and take that time and energy and place it in the places where it's most important." Ashtyn Berry: "There's room for duality. I'm going to quote Dr. Graham ... and I'm going to say that the issues that the general public is seeing with public education are systemic and structural. However, it is so, so important to look at schools and speak about schools through an asset-based lens right now. Otherwise, this issue of retaining teachers and recruiting teachers is not going to get better." Ryan Mitchell: "There's a lot of talk about learning loss and deficits and it's important to have that asset-minded mindset. ... I want the public to know that we are working. We are working. I have been to a bunch of schools as a part of this opportunity as a teacher of the year and in every school I go in teaching, our teachers are working so hard. I'm here at school right now and I am not the last car in the parking lot. And that is not something that's unique to my school. So trust us, work with us, let's be partners in the educational process, and let's do what's best for kids." NC is still in the bottom quartile on per-student spending, and that could easily be addressed by shifting some of the surplus revenues. But the GOP majority stubbornly refuses to do what the courts have directed them to, and instead have done their level best to turn parents against teachers. Shame on them.
https://www.wral.com/mary-ann-wolf-what-n-c-s-regional-teachers-of-the-year-want-you-to-know/20685878/