VOLUME 6 ISSUE 11
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Bishop backs Budd in US Senate primary Raleigh Charlotte-area U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-09) endorsed U.S. Rep. Ted Budd in the state’s Republican U.S. Senate primary. Bishop previously served as a Mecklenburg County commissioner and in both chambers of the General Assembly. “There is no room for error in 2022; North Carolina’s next U.S. Senator must be a fighter for ordinary people and the values the Left is systematically destroying in Washington,” said Bishop. “I have gotten to know Ted Budd well. There’s nothing slick or artificial about him — Ted Budd is a true conservative and unafraid to stand up for working families.” NSJ STAFF
Publix pharmacies offer walk-in COVID vaccines in 7 states Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Publix pharmacies are now accepting walk-ins for the COVID-19 vaccine at all of their locations across seven states. The supermarket chain said customers have the choice of the two-dose Moderna vaccine or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, subject to availability. Publix had already been offering walk-in availability at stores in Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee. The walk-in notice at stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia comes a week after President Joe Biden issued a federal mandate that requires federal retail pharmacy program participants to offer walk-in vaccinations. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moore County school board won’t adopt Critical Race Theory ban Carthage The Moore County Board of Education kept the adoption of Critical Race Theory curriculum on the table. The Pilot reported that a total of 47 speakers addressed the board, most of them supporting a ban on the controversial teaching of race and historical issues. Board member David Hensley criticized the new social studies standards, saying they were a “Trojan horse used by political activists with the ultimate goal of propounding socialism within the schools.” The proposed ban failed by a 4-3 vote. NSJ STAFF
Marine Fisheries Artificial Reef Program sinks vessel off Oregon Inlet Morehead City The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Artificial Reef Program, in partnership with the Oregon Inlet Artificial Reef Committee, sank a 108-foot tugboat on May 7 off Oregon Inlet. The site was established as part of a Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant awarded to the Oregon Inlet Artificial Reef Committee. The division plans to sink large reef balls and concrete pipe at the site later this year. NSJ STAFF
Bishop, Budd, Rouzer earn “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” Washington, D.C. The conservative National Taxpayers Union (NTU) released their 2020 congressional ratings scorecard of almost 200 roll call votes in Congress. U.S. Reps. Dan Bishop (95%), Ted Budd (93%), and David Rouzer (91%) received the awards, the only three members of the state’s delegation to receive an award from the influential organization. To receive a Taxpayers’ Friend Award, a member of Congress must have not only achieved a grade of an A, but also voted on a minimum of 90% of weighted total votes. NSJ STAFF
BRETT FRIEDLANDER | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
State crowns high school football champions Vance running back Dylan Smothers is tackled by Rolesville linebacker Jacorrey Bible during the Cougars’ 35-14 win in the North Carolina Athletic Association 4AA football title game Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Vance won the state championship for the second straight season.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
U.S. Senate hopeful Walker headlines pro-life event By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker moderated a pro-life forum Monday at Raleigh’s Beacon Baptist Church that featured prominent anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson. Walker, himself a Baptist preacher, spoke with Johnson and two other women — Annette Lancaster and Sarah Eubanks — about their experiences as former abortion clinic workers. Lancaster worked for Planned Parenthood in Chapel Hill in 2015 and 2016 for nine months. She said that she was hired to be the health center manager but was soon given much more than she expected at the clinic, like holding the ultrasound wand during procedures and working in the “products of conception room,” where the parts of an aborted fetus are examined and inventoried. “I was told, ‘There’s no quota, Annette. But your numbers are dropping,’” Lancaster said. “So when they brought me into the office and said, ‘You don’t belong here anymore,” I said, ‘You’re right. I don’t,” and I slid [over] my letter of resignation. And they were like, ‘No, you’re ter-
minated.’ And I was like, ‘No, I quit.’ So, semantics. I quit. I was fired. I always say with our ladies that I was quit-fired. But either way, I don’t work in the industry anymore.” Lancaster talked about some of her hardest moments about her time at the Chapel Hill center, including when girls as young as 12 years old would come in with no parent and a boyfriend in their 40s, and they would find a legal workaround so the parents wouldn’t have to be informed, or when women would come in for their 11th or 12th abortion and the staff would mock them and call them terms like “cows.” Eubanks, from Mobile, Alabama, described growing up in a religious family but turning to drugs and promiscuity at 12 years old. She said she became pregnant at 19 years old and decided to get an abortion. Later, when she was a nursing student in 1990, she started working at the same clinic. She worked there for three years with doctors in the procedure room, identifying fetal remains and counseling women. Johnson, who helps women like Lancaster and Eubanks See WALKER, page A2
FILE PHOTO
Former Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., is featured at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Opportunity Scholarship expansion passes state Senate By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A bill passed by the N.C. Senate seeks to expand the number of low-income students that can participate in the state’s popular Opportunity Scholarship Program. The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) grants funds to eligible families for private school tuition. Funds are disbursed by the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA). Senate Bill 671, titled Changes to the K-12 Scholarship Programs, would increase the OSP’s annual amount from the current $4,200 per school year to 90% of the average state per-pupil allocation for
average daily membership in the prior fiscal year. Additionally, the OSP’s income threshold would be raised from 150% to 175% of the federal reduced-price-lunch level. The Special Education Scholarships for Students with Disabilities and Personal Education Savings Accounts are combined in the bill to create a Personal Education Student Accounts for Children with Disabilities. The bill’s primary sponsors are Sens. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) and Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who are the co-chairs of the Senate Education Committee, as well as Sen. Amy Galey (R-Alamance). See SCHOLARSHIPS, page A2
State Treasurer highlights fiscally struggling towns, state health and pension plans Pension plan has topped $118B; ‘highest level in history’ By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — During his monthly “Ask me anything” call, State Treasurer Dale Folwell discussed the state pension plan, the state health plan and touched on municipalities and counties having financial issues. Folwell also noted that the most recent Council of State meeting was held in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started. “The pension plan just topped $118 billion, and that’s been holding at that level for the last few weeks,” Folwell said during the call. “It’s the highest level in history.” The treasurer said, “there are less people paying into the pension plan than are not,” and went on to explain that not everyone paying into the plan is currently drawing a retirement check. “There are over 100,000 people who are vested in the [pension] plan and, for one reason or another, are not drawing a retirement check — yet,” Folwell said. He warned that North Carolina was entering into a life expectancy issue now with no minimum retirement age in the plan and females drawing more retirement checks than paychecks. In terms of the state’s health plan, Folwell said his office is continuing to work on the Clear Pricing Project to get rid of “secret contracts in healthcare.” As for activity at the state legislature, get-
ting the state health plan and pension plan fully funded and reimbursed for expenses related to See PENSIONS, page A3