Articles

Twenty-five years ago, when a powerful state Senator quietly and suddenly advanced a bill that would have allowed the leaders of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina to transform the giant and successful health insurance nonprofit into a for-profit company, advocates, consumers, average citizens, and ultimately, the full General Assembly, took a stand.

For nearly two decades, people who care about North Carolina’s most vulnerable, who relish understanding the people and politics that factor into the state’s policies, and who have strong opinions about what our state should look like in the 21st Century, have been loyal and supportive readers of NC Policy Watch.

Bill introduced at the behest of Blue Cross Blue Shield will be heard in a state House committee Tuesday The state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, wants the legislature to allow it to reorganize its business structure so that it can sidestep a 25-year-old law requiring it to compensate the state for decades of tax breaks.

Last week the U.S. House passed H.R. 5 -- a federal “Parents Bill of Rights” that's part of a conservative wave of similarly named legislation that targets books and speech on topics like race, gender and sexuality in schools and would compel teachers and school staff to out transgender children to their families.

As North Carolina moves closer to legalizing sports gambling, cautionary tales -- especially for young men -- emerge in other states    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The states that have legalized sports betting are reporting record levels of wagering and revenues, but with that growth comes questions about gambling addiction and whether regulators and sportsbooks are doing enough to fight it.

The oft-debated subject pits the decline of local newspapers against the public’s access to information. The fourth generation of his family to publish a newspaper, Lockwood Phillips has a reporter's sensibility for offhandedly recalling moments when journalism served its local community.

Parents, Democratic lawmakers decry censorship and "chilling effect on education" A controversial bill that would restrict how the state’s public school teachers discuss race, gender and sexuality was approved by the state House by a 68-49 party line vote on Wednesday, and is now headed to the state Senate.

Bills that elevate politics over science, research and training are an attack on the integrity of the medical profession As a doctor about to finish residency after multiple years of training, I have never been so worried about the future of medical practice.

The proposal would allow survivors of domestic violence to testify remotely against their alleged abusers and increase the statute of limitations for prosecution of misdemeanor domestic violence. Kayla Hammonds was afraid to go to court. She couldn’t bear the thought of facing her ex-boyfriend in the courtroom alone, so she’d bring her sister for moral support.

Giant pork producer asks Northamption County officials to sign off on proposal that would transport gas to Virginia, but declines to disclose key details Smithfield Foods and its affiliate Cardinal Bio-Energy plan to build two large swine gas projects in Northampton County and inject the gas into the Transco Pipeline, which will carry it out of the state and into Virginia.

Cannabis – aka marijuana. Most Americans already live in a state where it’s lawful to sell, obtain and possess – either for medical purposes, recreational purposes or both – and the genie is clearly not going back in the bottle.

Marcella Middleton grew up in foster care in Colorado and North Carolina and was taken to therapists and put on medications at a young age. “A lot of people who really weren’t experienced were trying to diagnose me,” she told a town hall on the youth mental health crisis in Winston-Salem last week.

Last week, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services held its eighth in a series of state-wide town halls on mental health. Held in Winston-Salem, the discussion focused on the crisis in youth mental health apparent in North Carolina and across the nation.

Republicans defend bill as promoting equality, while Democrats forecast chilling impact on honest classroom discussions Rep. Ken Fontenot, a Wilson County Republican, vigorously defended House Bill 187 this week, contending that the bill restricting how educators teach about race, gender and sexuality, would prevent educators from teaching racially divisive doctrines.