VOLUME 7 ISSUE 34 |
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2022
New poll shows Budd leading Beasley by 6% Raleigh Republican Ted Budd leads Democrat Cheri Beasley by a 50% to 44% margin according to a new East Carolina University Center of Survey Research Poll of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race. That doubles the lead Budd had in a September poll by the university. “Budd’s most notable gains have come from women. Beasley currently leads Budd 48% to 46% among women; however, Beasley led 52% to 41% among likely female voters in September,” a summary of the results from the university read. The poll also asked how respondents planned to vote in their U.S. congressional district races. The poll’s results show that 49% of likely voters say they intend to vote for the Republican candidate and 44% say they will vote for the Democratic candidate. Finally, among likely voters, President Joe Biden’s job approval stood at 38%.
PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
State Fair sees higher attendance in opening weekend The N.C. State Fair’s daily attendance has outpaced the 2021 Fair each day since opening day on Thursday, Oct. 13. Sunday’s total of 105,547 visitors was the highest on the first Sunday of the Fair since 2011. The annual event continues through Sunday, Oct. 23.
Violent week a grim sign as targeted killings of police rise
NSJ STAFF
DeSantis to continue migrant flights to Democratic states Tallahassee, Fla. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration plans to continue flying migrants who entered the country illegally to Democratic strongholds, his spokeswoman said, a day after newly released records showed the state paid nearly $1 million to arrange two sets of flights to Delaware and Illinois. “While Florida has had all hands on deck responding to our catastrophic hurricane, the immigration relocation program remains active,” DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske said in an email. The flights would be a follow-up to the Sept. 14 flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where former President Barack Obama owns a home. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
High Point furniture market begins Saturday High Point The twice a year High Point Market, an international event for all things home furnishings, begins Saturday. The market’s dates this year are Oct. 22-26. The event brings over 75,000 visitors to the Guilford County city and is estimated to bring an economic impact of $6.73 billion to the state each year for both events. Over 40,000 retailers and designers attend each event. NSJ STAFF
Millions of cookies: MacKenzie Scott gives Girl Scouts $85M New York Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA and 29 of its local branches, the 110-year-old organization said Tuesday, calling it a vote of confidence. It’s the largest donation the Girl Scouts have received from an individual since their founding in 1912. The funds will help the organization recover from the impact of the pandemic, which drove down membership. Philanthropic giving to organizations that specifically serve women and girls represents less than 2% of all donations, according to a research project of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Youth membership of the Girl Scouts fell dramatically during the pandemic, dropping nearly 30% from about 1.4 million in 2019-2020 to just over 1 million in 2021-2022. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide The Associated Press PHOENIX/RALEIGH — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic. The class of 2022’s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What’s more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT — showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework. The test scores, made public in a report on Oct. 12, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses. In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.
“Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline,” said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. “Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.” The ACT reports College Readiness Benchmark Scores are the minimum score needed on an ACT subject area test to indicate a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college courses. The subject areas and the corresponding national benchmarks are English Composition (18), Algebra (22), Social Science (22), Biology (23), STEM (26) and English Language Arts (20). North Carolina’s scores also showed a decline with a composite score of 18.5 for the 88% of students in the state who were tested. See ACT, page A2
ELIAS FUNEZ | THE UNION VIA AP, FILE
New high school students gather to see their school schedules during the first morning of school, in this Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, file photo.
THE SHOOTING DEATHS of two Connecticut officers and wounding of a third punctuated an especially violent week for police across the U.S. and fit into a grim pattern: Even as more officers left their jobs in the past two years, the number targeted and killed rose. According to organizations that track violence against police, 56 officers have been killed by gunfire this year — 14% more than this time last year and about 45% ahead of 2020’s pace. The country is on track for the deadliest year since 67 officers were killed in 2016. While the figures include a few officers killed by accidental gunfire, the number of ambushes in which police were injured or killed in surprise attacks with little chance to defend themselves has soared since 2020 and accounts
for nearly half the officers killed this year. Such an attack struck last Wednesday in Bristol, Connecticut, where the state police said Bristol Police Sgt. Dustin Demonte and Officer Alex Hamzy were killed and Officer Alec Iurato was wounded when they responded to a 911 call that appears to have been “a deliberate act to lure law enforcement to the scene.” At least 11 police officers were shot around the country this week, including one fatally in Greenville, Mississippi, and another in Las Vegas. “Those are really scary numbers for law enforcement, not just for individual officers, but for the organizations they work for, which have to be taking this into account as they’re hiring, retaining and training officers,” said Bill Alexander, executive director of the See VIOLENCE, page A3
Democrat-tied group’s network of hyperpartisan local news sites includes three in NC The websites are part of network set up by Media Matters founder and Clinton operative David Brock By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A recent report by Axios has identified a network of 51 websites masquerading as local news sites that trace back to a Democrat-tied group. Three of the 51 are operating in North Carolina. These types of outlets are similar to the hyper-partisan sites masquerading as journalism housed under Courier Newsroom, which set up in 14 states in 2020 with funding by ACRONYM, a dark money political action committee. The sites are still active, including one in North Carolina called Cardinal & Pine. The site is run by Billy Ball, a former reporter for the left-leaning N.C. Justice Center’s blog called NC Policy Watch. According to Axios, the sites are “churning out Democrat-aligned content” in key midterm battleground states. The sites trace back to The American Independent (TAI) started by Democratic operative See NEWS, page A2
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