VOLUME 7 ISSUE 32 |
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022
US job openings sink as economy slows, cost to borrow rises Washington, D.C. The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July as businesses grow less desperate for workers. The government jobs report released Tuesday also showed that layoffs remained historically low, even after a modest increase in August. “Employers are thinking about who they don’t need to hire, but not thinking about who they need to lay off,” said Layla O’Kane, a senior economist at labor analytics firms Lightcast. The U.S. releases critical data on monthly employment on Friday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Biden running for reelection according to Sharpton Washington, D.C. President Joe Biden told the Rev. Al Sharpton that he will seek a second term in a private conversation at the White House last month, Sharpton informed his National Action Network staff in Washington later that day, NBC News reported. “I’m going to do it again,” Biden said as he posed for a photograph in the Roosevelt Room with Sharpton. “I’m going.”
COURTESY PHOTO
The UNC Asheville campus library is shown in this photo from the university.
UNC Asheville students told to ‘sacrifice’ themselves during active shooter training
NSJ STAFF
Musk proposes going ahead with deal to buy Twitter San Francisco Trading in shares of Twitter were halted Tuesday after the stock spiked on reports that Elon Musk would proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months of legal battles. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the case who were not identified. The trial seeking to compel Musk to buy Twitter is set to start in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Poll: Many pessimistic about improving standard of living New York More than half of Americans believe it’s unlikely younger people today will have better lives than their parents, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Most of those polled said that raising a family and owning a home are important to them, but more than half said these goals are harder to achieve compared with their parents’ generation. That was particularly true for younger people — about seven in 10 Americans under 30 think homeownership has become harder to achieve. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal
Cooper’s Department of Administration still withholding details of costly mansion repairs Department first cited security reasons but now claims no list exists By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Administration has not complied with attempts by North State Journal to ascertain details surrounding over $2.5 million in repairs to the Executive Mansion during Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s tenure. Earlier this year during the annual media observance of transparency in government operations known as “Sunshine Week,” North State Journal filed a records request on March 14 with the N.C. Department of Administration (DOA) for a list of repairs and the associated costs for the Executive Mansion. Communications Director for the DOA Julia Hegele responded 149 days later on Aug. 10 with a dollar figure of $2,569,459; a $445,504 increase from
the $2,123,955 total first obtained by North State Journal in December 2020. The DOA took 820 days – well over two years – to respond to the first records request. North State Journal’s current request for a line item list of the repairs was denied by the department which initially cited “security concerns.” “Due to security concerns, we typically do not share publicly repair records and recommendations for the Executive Residence,” Hegele said in an email response. “Providing specific line items and costs could identify potential deficiencies in the historic building as well as materials used for repairs, information that could be exploited to threaten the safety of the residence, its occupants and visitors.” In response to that denial of records, on Aug. 17 North State Journal asked DOA for a copy of the policy, emails or memos that would back up the “security issues” claim. The agency was emailed again on Aug. 26 and again on Sept. 13 after See REPAIRS, page A2
Pink Energy closes, leaves customers with faulty solar panels Mooresville A nationally known solar power company abruptly closed its doors last week. Now, hundreds of customers have questions about what to do with their malfunctioning and underperforming solar panels. Many customers told WBTV that their solar panels aren’t producing the energy or the savings they were originally promised. More than 80 complaints were filed against the company, formerly known as Power Home Solar, with the N.C. Attorney General’s office. However, customers still must make monthly payments on loans that were used to buy the systems. In some cases, the loans are upwards of $60,000. NSJ STAFF
AP PHOTO
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh, on Wednesday, July 6, 2022.
RALEIGH — Students participating in a recent active shooter training on the UNC Asheville campus were told to “sacrifice” themselves by a university official leading the training. About 50 student employees of UNCA’s Highsmith Student Union were involved in the Sept. 20 training drill, one of which spoke to North State Journal on the condition their identity be kept anonymous. This article will refer to them as Jordan. The student employees had received an email notice of a “mandatory training” event that would last two hours on Sept. 9. The Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE) training
that was employed has been described as “interactive,” and the Sept. 9 session was apparently headed up by UNCA Director of Emergency Management David Weldon. Also in attendance were Highsmith Student Union Director Jessica Inman and Associate Director Silke Crombie. At the onset of the training, Weldon told students that if they were to leave, they would tell another staff member present the reason why. During the first part of the training, footage and images of the shootings that took place at UNC Charlotte before the pandemic and at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were shown to the participants. See UNCA, page A2
Beasley, Budd to meet Friday in only scheduled debate By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — As the calendar flipped to October, the candidates for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat sharpened their attacks on one another as the only debate in the race will see Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd meet for the first time. Much of the race is now centered on Beasley’s record as a lawyer and judge. Budd and outside groups have focused on a string of controversial cases Beasley was involved in. The Washington Free Beacon reported last month about Beasley’s involvement in a 1998 case where she was one of the “key defense attorneys” for Tilmon and Kevin Golphin, brothers who one year before the trial killed two North Carolina police officers during a traffic stop that came after they robbed a loan agency at gunpoint. The brother of one of the slain officers, Al Lowry, said it’s “B.S.” that the Democrat is portraying herself as a friend of law enforcement. “It makes me sick every time I look at her because I know she’s not the right person for the job,” Lowry said in the report. “She’s for the criminals and not for the law officers. … [Beasley’s] ad says law enforcement stands behind her. I don’t believe that for one second.” In another case, when she served on the N.C. Supreme Court, Beasley voted to vacate a career criminal’s habitual felon status just after the man was caught with a “weapon of mass death,” a move that would have
seen him receive a lighter sentence if he committed another crime, the Free Beacon also reported. The majority of justices disagreed with her in that case, though. Most recently, Beasley’s representation of Massage Envy See DEBATE, page A2
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