pulse.ncpolicywatch.org Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700:20::681a:f3a  Public Scan

Form analysis
3 forms found in the DOM

GET https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/

<form method="get" id="searchform-mobile" action="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/">
  <button class="search-button" type="submit" value="Search"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button>
  <input type="search" id="s-mobile" placeholder="Search" value="" name="s" autocomplete="on">
</form>

POST https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-login.php

<form action="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-login.php" method="post">
  <input type="text" name="log" size="30" placeholder="User Name" value="Username">
  <input type="password" name="pwd" size="30" placeholder="Password" value="Password">
  <div class="remember">
    <input name="rememberme" type="checkbox" checked="checked" value="forever"> Remember Me <button value="Login" name="Submit" type="submit" class="btn">Login</button>
  </div>
  <input type="hidden" name="redirect_to" value="/">
  <ul class="login_list">
    <li>
      <a href="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword">
                            Forgot your password?                        </a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</form>

GET https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/

<form method="get" id="searchform" class="form-search" action="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/">
  <input type="text" id="sss" class="search-text" name="s" value="Search" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Search') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search';}">
</form>

Text Content

 * Home
 * About
 * Archives
 * Donate

 * NC Policy Watch




LOGIN


Remember Me Login
 * Forgot your password?

 * NC Policy Watch

Go to...NC Policy Watch

 * Home
 * About
 * Archives
 * Donate
 * 

Go to... Home About Archives Donate



$25.9 BILLION NC BUDGET SET FOR VOTES IN THE LEGISLATURE THIS WEEK

By Lynn Bonner
November 15, 2021
In News
 31 39 0



2.9k
1k
98

The $25.9 billion budget legislators plan to approve this week includes raises
for teachers and state employees, tax cuts, and special provisions limiting the
powers of the governor and attorney general.

The budget is more than four months overdue. The fiscal year started July 1. The
last legislative vote on a budget proposal came in mid-August. Budget proposals
passed with veto-proof majorities in both the state House and Senate.

Since then, House and Senate negotiators have been working among themselves, and
then with Gov. Roy Cooper, on a final version.

A statement last week from Cooper’s office said he would decide whether to sign
or veto the budget after he’s reviewed it.

The state has been without a comprehensive budget for more than two years.
Conflicts between Cooper, a Democrat, and the Republican-led legislature
resulted in an impasse and limited ‘mini-budgets’ since 2019.

The budget changes state law to require a governor obtain agreement from a
majority of the Council of State if a statewide emergency declaration is to last
more than 30 days. If most of the Council of State agrees, the emergency
declaration can last up to 60 days.  The change becomes effective in 2023.
Republican legislators have tried for more than a year to limit Cooper’s
emergency powers in the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper has vetoed similar stand-alone
bills, though those had shorter time limits. The last such bill, which Cooper
vetoed on Nov. 1, had a seven-day limit on declared statewide emergencies that
lacked approval of a Council of State majority.

The budget also includes a provision that would give legislative leaders veto
power over proposed court settlements where they are named as parties or where
they have intervened. Republicans were angry that Attorney General Josh Stein
settled an elections lawsuit last year that extended the time mail-in ballots
would be accepted if they were postmarked by Election Day.

Offering health insurance to low-income adults through Medicaid expansion, a
years-long Cooper goal, is not in the budget. North Carolina is one of a dozen
states that has not expanded Medicaid.

The budget does include more limited Medicaid extensions in more coverage for
new mothers and for parents whose children are temporarily in foster care.

Women who use Medicaid for health insurance while they are pregnant are kicked
off two months after they give birth. The extension will allow them to keep the
insurance for a year after their babies are born. The provision is effective for
five year starting April 1, 2022. Medicaid pays for about half of the state’s
births.

Parents who are working to regain custody of their children taken into foster
care would be able to keep their Medicaid coverage.

The budget also includes raises and bonuses for teachers and state employees,
tax cuts, and cost-of-living adjustments for government retirees.

Teacher salaries would rise an average of 2.5% in each year of the two-year
budget. The increase is a combination of a 1.3% increase in the base salary
schedule and step increases.

Most teachers will receive bonuses of $2,800, according to an outline Senate
leader Phil Berger’s office posted on Medium.

The budget includes a new $100 million fund to help school districts supplement
teacher salaries. The allotments would be based on county wealth. Small and
rural counties have trouble hiring and keeping teachers because they cannot
afford to supplement state salaries to the degree that wealthier counties can.

State employees would receive 2.5% raises in each of the two budget years.

The budget institutes a minimum wage for state employees of $13 an hour this
year and $15 an hour next year.

State employees who make less than $75,000 a year will receive $1,500 bonuses.
State employees who make more than $75,000 will receive $1,000 bonuses. State
employees who work at 24-hour residential treatment facilities, and employees at
the Department of Public Safety whose jobs require frequent in-person contact
will receive $1,500 bonuses, according to Berger’s outline.

Government retirees will receive cost-of-living adjustments of 2% this year and
3% next year.

The budget includes both personal and corporate income tax cuts.

The personal income tax rate drops to 4.99% next year from 5.25%, and the
standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly increases from $21,500 to
$25,000.

A corporate income tax rate cut from 2.5% to 2.25% would not kick in until 2025,
but the corporate income tax would be phased out over four years and hit zero in
2029.

 31 39 0



LOUISIANA’S MITCH LANDRIEU TAPPED BY BIDEN TO OVERSEE INFRASTRUCTURE LAW

By Ariana Figueroa
November 15, 2021
In News
 5 9 0



2.9k
1k
98

Landrieu served as New Orleans mayor from 2010 to 2018, dealing with the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. (Photo by Sean
Gardner/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday named former New Orleans Mayor Mitch
Landrieu to serve as a senior adviser tasked with implementing the $1.2 trillion
bipartisan infrastructure package.

The president is scheduled to sign the infrastructure bill late Monday, and
Landrieu will attend.

“Our work will require strong partnerships across the government and with state
and local leaders, business and labor to create good-paying jobs and rebuild
America for the middle class,” Landrieu said in a statement.

“We will also ensure these major investments achieve the President’s goals of
combating climate change and advancing equity.”

Landrieu served as New Orleans mayor from 2010 to 2018, dealing with the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.

The White House issued a statement outlining his role. Landrieu will oversee the
implementation of expanding broadband, investing in climate resistant
infrastructure and the repairing of roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

In September, Landrieu wrote an opinion piece detailing how climate change has
affected Louisiana and how the government should take action to continue to
invest in climate resilient infrastructure.

“For our city and country to be truly resilient, we need more than levees
holding back water and wetlands protecting us from storms; we must strike a
balance between human needs and the environment that surrounds us while also
combating the chronic stresses of violence, poverty and inequality,” he wrote.

He’s also written about how the U.S. needs to take accountability of its racist
past in order to heal and move forward, pointing to the Jan. 6 attack on the
U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters and known white supremacist groups
like the Oath Keepers.

“The country must approach this moment in history with clarity of thought and
purpose, not just for January 6, but for the centuries of actions and inactions
that led the country to this point,” he wrote. “We cannot change our history,
but we can surely learn from it. If we don’t, our democracy may be the ultimate
lost cause.”

While he was mayor, he removed four Confederate monuments in New Orleans. He’s
also served as  two terms as lieutenant governor and 16 years in the state
legislature.

Landrieu joins former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana in the Biden
administration. Richmond, a Democrat and New Orleans native who is a senior
adviser to the president, served as the national co-chairman of the Biden
campaign.

 5 9 0



ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION, RED WOLVES GET A REPRIEVE; US FISH & WILDLIFE
REINSTATE PROTECTIONS, UPENDING TRUMP-ERA PROPOSAL

By Lisa Sorg
November 15, 2021
In Environment
 86 63 0



2.9k
1k
98



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have
allowed people to intentionally kill red wolves in most of northeastern North
Carolina, and would have likely led to the extinction of the species in the
wild.

The federal action essentially resets the agency’s policy on red wolf
management. Red wolves will be protected in five counties — Beaufort, Dare,
Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington. People can intentionally kill the wolves only to
protect themselves, pets and livestock if they are in immediate danger.

“Based on recent court decision … and having considered public comments
submitted in response to the 2018 proposed rule, the Service determined that
withdrawing the proposed rule is the best course of action at this time,” a
USFWS press release said.

Under a 2018 proposal during the Trump administration, USFWS proposed shrinking
the wolves’ protected area in North Carolina by 90%, limiting it to certain
public lands in Hyde and Dare counties. Had that proposal become final, people
could have killed the wolves in previously protected areas, which extended
throughout Tyrrell, Washington and Beaufort counties.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition,
Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute, filed a federal
complaint, alleging USFWS intentionally failed to protect the critically
threatened species as required by federal law. “The science says it will be the
end of the red wolf in the wild,” within six to eight years, SELC senior
attorney Sierra Weaver said in court at the time.

When the proposed rule went out for public comment, 107,988 of 108,124 comments
submitted to the Service advocated for strong federal protections for the red
wolves. The red wolf is listed as an endangered species, except in a portion of
North Carolina where it was reintroduced as a “nonessential experimental
population.” North Carolina, which is part of the species’ historical range, has
the only known wild population of red wolves.

Withdrawal of the 2018 proposed rule means USFWS will also reintroduce more
wolves into the wild, as it did earlier this year. The agency said it will work
with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to implement a coyote
sterilization program on federal  and non-federal lands, subject to written
landowner agreements. The sterilization of coyotes is important because they can
breed with wolves and dilute the latter’s genetic purity.

The Southern Environmental Law Center sued USFWS in 2016 over the agency’s
failure to manage the species in a way that would prevent its extinction. In
2018, a federal judge issued an injunction on USFWS, ordering the agency
to prohibit the capturing and killing of “non-problem wolves” — those posing no
immediate danger. In January 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle
required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a plan to release captive
red wolves

While red wolf advocates applauded the USFWS decision, they said they remain
concerned that the agency won’t actively try to keep the species viable.

“We’re pleased that the Fish and Wildlife Service is finally withdrawing its
harmful proposal to remove protections for wild red wolves and drastically
reduce their protected area, but the question remains: will the agency commit to
proven conservation measures to save the world’s rarest wild wolves, including
reintroductions?” Weaver said in a prepared statement. “Effective on the ground
actions are urgently needed to save wild red wolves now, not just nixing bad
proposals.”

“The plan to slash the red wolf’s recovery area was reckless and poorly
conceived. I’m relieved the Fish and Wildlife Service finally listened to the
public’s outcry against it,” said Perrin de Jong, a staff attorney at the Center
for Biological Diversity, in a prepared statement. “People want federal agencies
to do more, not less, to protect the world’s most endangered wolf.”

At one time, the red wolf program marked a significant achievement for USFWS. 
The agency released the first breeding pairs of red wolves into the wilds of
northeastern North Carolina in 1987. By 1992, the agency had declared the
experiment a success.

Through the first part of the ’00s, USFWS introduced more wolves into the
habitat. It had a program to sterilize coyotes, which had encroached on wolf
territory. Coyotes can breed with wolves and dilute the latter’s genetic purity.
USFWS also prohibited people from shooting “non-problem” wolves.

As a result, the number of wolves jumped to more than 100, raising the hopes of
conservation biologists and wildlife advocates that the species could be saved
in the wild.

The red wolf population has plummeted since these policy changes, which may have
emboldened some landowners to shoot wolves without a “take permit.” In late
2016, a red wolf was found shot to death on federal land, the fourth such animal
to die that year, according to the most recent USFWS figures. The cause of death
was not listed.

From 1987 to 2000, 15 red wolves died from gunshot wounds, an average of 1.2 per
year. But from 2000 to 2013, the total spiked to 73, an average of 5 per year —
a 300 percent increase.

 86 63 0



CLIMATE CHANGE: WOMEN AND FAMILIES IN POOR COUNTRIES MOST FEEL THE BRUNT

By Laura Cassels
November 15, 2021
In Environment, News
 13 4 0



2.9k
1k
98

The two-week climate conference in Glasgow, concluding today, shone a spotlight
on the harm climate change inflicts on women and families in the world’s most
vulnerable countries.

Women, who often hold lead roles in providing food and health care for their
families, are on the front lines, according to advocates participating in panel
discussions during the COP26 climate conference. Their communities are feeling
climate change most directly — especially sea-level rise that is swallowing
small island nations and drought in the Southern Hemisphere.

Projects intended to help these women are falling short, some of these advocates
said, because corporations purporting to offset their own climate pollution with
green projects in poor nations are not delivering the promised results.

“Often, carbon finance does not really reach small-scale farmers and low-income
households that are actually responsible for the emission reductions,” Marcel
Spaas, a manager at the nonprofit FairClimateFund, said during a panel
discussion on Thursday.

“For example: women in Burkina Faso cooking on improved cook stoves which they
construct themselves; the family in India who decides to embrace biogas as a
cooking solution; farmers in Peru who do collectively planting trees on
community land to support and give themselves a better future; a refugee family
in Chad that uses solar cooking to [conserve] their scarce available firewood,”
he said.

Jeanette Gurung, founder and executive director of Women Organizing for Change
in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, or WOCAN, said her organization,
with 1,400 members in 140 countries, aims to connect those women and their
families with financial support.

“[WOCAN’s mission is] to drive new financial resources and support to women’s
groups, women’s organizations. This is based on the evidence we’ve seen over the
years of the tremendous impact — I would say untapped potential — of women’s
groups to deliver outcomes related to forest management, water management,
agriculture management with, I would say, no recognition, certainly no support,”
she said.

“Women have pretty good ideas of what they need and what their communities are,”
Gurung said. “This is women’s empowerment. We’re supporting women’s agency. It’s
a way to bring more attention to the critical role that women play in the
management and the achievement of success within projects related to climate
sectors.”

The FairClimateFund wants governments to require corporations to be transparent
about the pollution-offset projects they finance and prove the projects both
reduce emissions as promised and help communities protect themselves from
climate change, Spaas said.

The projects fall into an area of finance called carbon markets: setting
financial value on pollution and offsetting that value with “credits” supporting
projects elsewhere that equally reduce pollution.

For developing countries, excessive heat and drought — and, conversely, historic
flooding from storms — is depriving them of the use of their land to grow food
and provide shelter, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
a consortium of climate scientists from around the world, including
representatives of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Industrialized countries are responsible for the majority of CO2 emissions. The
richest 10 percent of the people cause more than half of the global CO2
emissions. However, the greatest impact of climate change occurs in developing
countries. Changing weather patterns, floods, and extreme droughts are a major
challenge for countries that are largely dependent on small-scale agriculture,”
Spaas said.

Arranging carbon-reducing projects in developing countries has the potential to
actually reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and help vulnerable communities become
more resilient to climate change, Spaas said, but only under conditions not now
in place. Read more

 13 4 0



WEEKEND HUMOR FROM CELIA RIVENBARK: FOUL FACEBOOK FALSEHOODS ABOUT FAUCI

By Celia Rivenbark
November 13, 2021
In Commentary
 43 21 1



2.9k
1k
98

I’m going to sit down and send a week’s pay to the folks at Snopes so they can
continue the Lord’s work of using research and facts the rest of us are too lazy
to mess with to combat the spread of misinformation on the internet.

As Snopes might say: The above paragraph is partly true and partly not or
MIXTURE as they put it. The true part is I’m going to send them a donation and
the less true part is it will be a week’s pay. I mean, I like them and all, but
I’m not made of money. (TRUE)

I’m particularly high on Snopes these days because you can practically hear them
sighing deeply before they seek to explain how “Fauci’s Experiments With Puppies
Caged With Sandflies That Ate Them Alive” isn’t completely, or even mostly, the
truth. I won’t get into why that headline is horrendously inaccurate and
misleading because all y’all got the Google and I have a 650-word limit so let’s
move on.

Context. It’s everything but it’s gone missing. We need to work to find context
like it was a sorority girl who disappeared on a fruity island over break.

The recent screeching about Fauci personally ripping the vocal cords out of
beagles in a research lab is designed to get people fired up and clicking and
sharing and all the other learned behaviors we now find as natural as breathing.

I blame Facebook. Because…why not? Poor ol’ Facebook. Zuck’s feeling like a
banjo cuz everybody’s picking on him. But between Facebook, Twitter and the rest
we have been conditioned to like and share anything that jibes with our personal
agenda. It’s enough to make you miss the good ol’ days when you asked the
youngest person in the household what a cursor was and why must it blink all the
time.

When something appears in our news feed that seems suspicious, we should pay
attention to our gut. Sometimes, to be fair, our gut is wrong, and the thing is
true. It’s like the first time you went to a fancy restaurant and they brought
mayonnaise for your French fries. Remember how your face looked? All scrunched
up like, “this can’t be right.” but it WAS! Now you don’t even think it’s weird.
(TRUE) You even ask for mayo sometimes with your fries. (TRUE) And you almost
always mispronounce aioli. (TRUE AGAIN)

The hue and cry over Fauci as beagle abuser is a good example of a half-truth
covered in a toxic mix of toppings that are way false. Cue outrage! Although you
should temper this with the fact that animal trials are responsible for every
significant medical advance in human history.

Just last month, a pig kidney was transplanted to a woman on life support and
functioned perfectly. Nearly half the human patients waiting for a transplant
become too sick or die before receiving one. (TRUE) Are we understandably
conflicted about this but ultimately realize the benefit to human lives
outweighs the reluctance to use animals? (MIXTURE)

Poor Facebook has decided a name change to “Meta” will fix it all but in the
very wise tweet-words of @BoogFinkelstein: “They can call it whatever they want
to as long as I can still see what the dumpy kid from 7th grade social studies
is having for dinner and all 238 pics of my third cousin’s baby in the same
pose.” Preach, Boog.

You can change the name of Facebook but it’s still the same thing. We have to
figure out a way to ask, every single time, “Who is reporting this?” “Is this a
reliable source with no hidden agenda?” “Should I spread this story unvetted
just so I seem relevant?”

Zuck and mind-boggling greed may have gotten us into this mess, but context will
help us get out. (TRUE)

Celia Rivenbark is a New York Times bestselling author and columnist. Write her
at celiarivenbark@gmail.com.

 43 21 1

12 3 Next



TOP STORIES FROM NCPW


 * News
 * Commentary

Snow Camp residents claim small, but important victory in fight over Alamance
Aggregates mine

Court testimony revealed how the Mining Act favors industry. Boom.  Crack. 
Boom.  Crack. During the last… [...]

U.S. House Democrats seek to expose, call out right-wing extremism

Lawmakers introduce censure of Arizona congressman over violent video, ask why
federal judges hired law clerk… [...]

GOP legislative maps all but assure a less racially diverse General Assembly

Several Democratic lawmakers of color now reside in districts that strongly
favor Republicans   More than… [...]

Monday numbers: A closer look at the rapid and stunning growth of the super-rich

While the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession it spawned have taken a
huge toll on… [...]

Gone Rogue…

The post Gone Rogue… appeared first on NC Policy Watch. [...]

Congress must raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for Build Back Better

Over the last 18 months of pandemic and economic disruption, we’ve seen the
hardships people face… [...]

President Biden’s remarkable record of accomplishment under nearly impossible
circumstances

It’s been almost 90 years since humorist Will Rogers uttered his famous lament:
“I am not… [...]

Redistricting & The Sandbag District

The post Redistricting & The Sandbag District appeared first on NC Policy Watch.
[...]




NOW HIRING



The North Carolina Justice Center is seeking a Courts, Law & Democracy Reporter
for NC Policy Watch, to investigate, analyze and report on the federal and state
judicial systems. This position will cover criminal and civil justice issues in
the General Assembly and executive branch agencies, issues related to elections
and voting, and other topics.

APPLY HERE.




RECENT BLOG POSTS


 * $25.9 billion NC budget set for votes in the legislature this week
 * Louisiana’s Mitch Landrieu tapped by Biden to oversee infrastructure law
 * On the verge of extinction, red wolves get a reprieve; US Fish & Wildlife
   reinstate protections, upending Trump-era proposal
 * Climate change: Women and families in poor countries most feel the brunt
 * Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Foul Facebook falsehoods about Fauci
 * Recommendation for closing the health equity gap in cancer care
 * Governor issues pardon for NC man wrongly imprisoned for 26 years
 * From a $1.7 billion court-order for NC’s schools to the GOP’s maps for a less
   diverse legislature, it’s the week’s top stories on Policy Watch



Support Our Work


Copyright 2021 | The Pulse | News and opinion briefs from NC Policy Watch







Close
PreviousNext

PreviousMaximize

Next






ShareThis Copy and Paste
2.9k
1k
98