North State Journal Vol. 5, Issue 5

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 5

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2020

Shad fishing on the Roanoke River, B1

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

Wake County sheriff stops issuing pistol purchase permits Raleigh Wake County sheriff Gerald Baker has banned new pistol purchase permits due to a backlog and to keep COVID-19 out of the sheriff’s office. Baker says permits will not re-open until April 30. The decision has been met with pushback, as Second Amendment advocates say the decision is a violation of the statute governing purchases and the amendment and the constitution. NSJ STAFF

North Carolina Chamber opposes ‘Shelter in Place’ restrictions Raleigh North Carolina Chamber CEO Gary Salamido penned a letter saying the state’s experience responding to natural disasters has citizens well-positioned to avoid a total shutdown. “Undoubtedly, public health and safety sits prominently as our lodestar, but tripping the main breaker can only be a last resort.” Salamido added that the state’s private sector has developed expertise enacting emergency response plans to protect employees and keep operations running. “The disruption a shelterin-place order would generate for the private sector, and for North Carolina citizens whose financial well-being and overall welfare depends on their ability to work, cannot be underestimated. It would fashion a massive disturbance that could create the opposite of its intended effect by interfering with the very economic activity that is protecting our state and its citizenry from disaster,” said Salamido. As of Tuesday afternoon, Mecklenburg and Pitt counties have issued so-called “stay home” orders limiting travel. NSJ STAFF

Student veterans will continue to receive GI Bill benefits Washington, D.C. Students veterans will keep their GI Bill benefits after President Trump signed S. 3503 into law. The law enables the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to continue providing the same level of education benefits to students having to take courses online due to the coronavirus outbreak. The law gives temporary authority to continue payments in the event of national emergencies. Students will continue receiving the same monthly housing allowance payments they received for resident training until Dec. 21, or until the school resumes inperson classes. “I commend President Trump and Congress for their work on this important law,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “It will give Veteran students certainty as they continue their education.” Students are not required to take any action and benefits will continue automatically. NSJ STAFF

Loss of smell, taste, might signal pandemic virus infection New York A loss of smell or taste might be an early sign of infection with the pandemic virus, say medical experts who cite reports from several countries. The idea of a virus infection reducing sense of smell is not new. Respiratory viral infection is a common cause of loss of smell, because inflammation can interfere with airflow and the ability to detect odors. The sense of smell usually returns when the infection resolves, but in a small percentage of cases, smell loss can persist after other symptoms disappear. In some cases, it is permanent. ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALEX BRANDON | AP PHOTO

Social distancing in the White House

President Donald Trump and members of his coronavirus task force brief reporters, seated away from one another, in the White House briefing room.

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

ANALYSIS

Rainy days were anticipated by some state politicians By A.P. Dillon, Matt Mercer and Neal Robbins North State Journal RALEIGH — The state has surpassed 400 cases of COVID-19. Gov. Roy Cooper has enacted executive orders shuttering businesses and the 10 million citizens of North Carolina are living through stormy times. As expected, the closure of museums, salons, spas, gyms and other businesses has unemployment claims soaring beyond 113,000 in a single week. The norm for those jobless claim filings is 3,000 a week. Officials with the Employment Security Commission said that approximately 87% of last week’s claims were COVID-19 related. While Cooper and the Coronavirus Task Force work to “flatten the curve” of the virus’ spread, the General Assembly’s budget strategies that built up the state’s rainy-day fund will be put to the test as North Carolina’s economy is impacted by the state and federal governments’ response to the coronavirus pandemic. Just how prepared is the state financially? “North Carolina has $3.9 billion in its unemployment reserves, $1.1 billion in savings, a $74 million disaster relief fund, $184 million in Medicaid contingency reserves and a $2.2 billion balance of unappropriated cashon-hand,” said House Speaker Tim Moore (R-King’s Mountain) in a recent press release. As of February, North Carolina’s Disaster Relief Reserve Fund, often referred to as the “rainy-day fund,” has around nearly $2.7 billion in combined funds in it; but it wasn’t always so flush. Two years prior to Republicans winning majorities in the House and Senate in 2010, the fund had a balance of around $97 million. In 2011, there was a mere $4 million left. While campaigning for governor in 2016, Cooper attacked former Gov. Pat McCrory and

legislative Republicans for “building up the rainy-day fund in excess of what’s necessary for the state.” That same year Democratic Rep. Larry Hall, now Cooper’s Secretary of Military and Veteran Affairs, complained about not spending the funds and by adding to the rainy day fund the state had “artificially starved ourselves.” Another top Democrat, Attorney General Josh Stein, also voted against adding money to the rainy-day fund via the 2015 appropriations bill while serving in the state Senate. Those funds have been made available for hurricane victims across eastern North Carolina. Cooper, Hall, Stein, and other Democrats now find that the means are available to help save the state from economic collapse. The prudent savings measures of the General Assembly will help — but so will federal aid packages, the announced extension of tax filing and payment, and the Trump administration’s cutting through the red tape to help small businesses. North Carolina has already been approved for disaster loans and grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2017, Pew Charitable Trusts said North Carolina’s rainy-day fund met the four best practices and made the state a national leader in managing volatility and reserve fund policy. Those four practices were creating a savings deposit rule tied to revenue growth, defining clear and objective conditions for fund use, establishing an evidence-based fund savings target, and providing a mechanism to re-evaluate the rules governing the fund. “We’ve built a multibillion-dollar cash surplus and one of the healthiest unemployment insurance reserves in the country,” wrote Sens. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) and Ted Alexander (R-Cleveland) in a recent article. “We have the means for a proportionate response to an economic disruption. Times like this are exactly why.”

Trump says he hopes US will be reopened by Easter amid virus By Zeke Miller The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — With lives and the economy hanging in the balance, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is hoping the country will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to refine nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak. As many public health officials call for stricter, not looser restrictions on public interactions, Trump said he was already looking toward easing the advisories

that have sidelined workers, shuttered schools and led to a widespread economic slowdown. “I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said during a Fox News virtual town hall. Easter is just over two weeks away — Apr. 12. Health experts have made clear that unless Americans continue to dramatically limit social interaction — staying home from work and isolating themselves — the number of infections will overwhelm the health care system, See VIRUS page A2

Panic buying tests grocery stores, trucking industry Closure of DMV offices makes CDL renewal more difficult By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — In the midst of the global panic over coronavirus, North Carolina consumers have been buying products off the shelves at a frenetic rate, pressuring retailers and their suppliers to make goods available quickly and in large quantities. “Grocery is going at full capacity right now — as hard as they can go,” Andy Ellen, president of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, told NSJ. “It is not a supply chain issue. It is a demand issue. People are just buying way too much.” Ellen said, other than a few specific items, like cleaning supplies and toilet paper, consumers should not have trouble finding anything they need. It may not be the brand they are used to, but there should be an equivalent item. “I think you’re seeing a scenario where this is probably the biggest demand we’ve seen on grocery stores and food supply in a long time,” Ellen said, saying it has mirrored the lead up to a hurricane, but sustained over a much longer time. “This is why you’ve seen grocery stores reduce their store hours, so they can get product in, get the shelves clean and restock those items without customers pulling things out of the boxes as trucks are coming in.” An area where the NCRMA does see concern, though, is having enough truck drivers to get the

products to distribution centers and to stores. “The only place we’re really struggling right now is there is a shortage of commercial drivers,” Ellen said. “So trying to make sure you’re pushing the product that is getting to the distribution centers See STORES page A2