VOLUME 9 ISSUE 36 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2024
NSJONLINE.COM
Happy Halloween from NSJ
DAVID YEAZELL / AP PHOTO
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater in Wilmington last Thursday.
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Walz makes case for Harris in Wilmington
BRIEF this week
Trump ally Bannon released from prison Danbury, Conn. Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon was released from prison early Tuesday after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Bannon also returned to his podcast and online show Tuesday morning, saying he was focused on helping Trump win the presidential election. Bannon, 70, reported to prison July 1 after the Supreme Court rejected his bid to delay his prison sentence while he appealed his conviction. A jury found Bannon guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
U.S. job openings fall to 3½-year low Washington, D.C. U.S. job openings tumbled last month to their lowest level since January 2021, a sign that the labor market is losing some momentum. Still, posted vacancies remain well above pre-pandemic levels. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the number of job openings dropped to 7.4 million in September from 7.9 million in August. Economists had expected the level of openings to be virtually unchanged. Job openings fell in particular at health care companies and government agencies at the federal, state and local levels. Though job openings have fallen sharply since peaking at 12.2 million in 2022, they remain higher than before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed the American economy in early 2020.
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The vice-presidential candidate didn’t hold back during the rally
NCGA passes $644M more in Helene relief Lawmakers have issued over $917M so far; Cooper wants $3.9B total By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly unanimously passed a second round of Hurricane Helene relief funding on Oct. 24. Senate Bill 743, retitled “The Disaster Recovery Act of 2024 — Part II,” contains more than $644 million for Helene relief
By Shawn Krest North State Journal
and will draw from the state’s Savings Reserve, also known as the Rainy Day Fund. State North Carolina’s Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund has nearly $733 million available, and the state’s Savings Reserve has more than $4.75 billion. The first round of funding, $278 million, was approved earlier this month in House Bill 149. Combined with the second round, total relief funding thus far is more than $917 million.
WILMINGTON — In Tim Walz’s time on the national stage, he’s been described as “folksy” and “plain-spoken” countless times. That means bringing out the adult language from time to time. The Minnesota governor and Democratic candidate for vice president appeared at Wilmington’s Greenfield Lake Amphitheater last Thursday, a few days after he raised eyebrows for calling Elon Musk a “dips--t.” With a chance to backtrack, clarify or apologize in Wilmington, Walz instead doubled down. “I did a very Midwestern euphemism the other day when I was talking about Elon being Donald Trump’s running mate and jumping around on stage, and it popped out,” Walz said. “And a lot of people did not know this phrase. Some people in parts of the country don’t know what that is. Trust me, it’s what he is.” Walz also used plain-spoken language when comparing Kamala Harris’ policies
See FUNDS, page A2
See WALZ, page A8
NC high court sends CON law back to trial court “CON laws are exactly what they sound like — a con.” Dale Folwell, state treasurer
The North Carolina Supreme Court voted unanimously By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — The North Carolina Supreme Court delivered a unanimous opinion in a case involving the state’s certificate-of-need laws on Oct. 18. North Carolina certificate-of-need (CON) laws require a provider to obtain such a certificate before adding “new institutional health services” in a wide range of health care settings, including buying equipment, adding beds and more. Obtaining a CON is not cheap either, with a minimum filing fee
of $5,000 and a maximum of $50,000. A lawsuit by Dr. Jay Singleton, an eye doctor in New Bern, argued that CON laws prevent him from buying the equipment he needs for certain services, which in turn allows him to provide more affordable services to his patients compared to the local hospital. In his initial filing, Singleton said he could perform cataract surgery for $1,800 with the proper equipment CON laws are barring him from obtaining compared to the $6,000 the local hospital charges for the procedure. Singleton’s attorneys have argued that the CON law violates the law of the land clause, the anti-special See CON, page A8
“This is not a game. You need people who can actually come up with ideas.” Tim Walz