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North Carolina Open Thread [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-09

Welcome. This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue . The platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we take back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please stop by each week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads . If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, I will list your work below. Colorado: Mondays, 7:00 PM Mountain Michigan: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Eastern North Carolina: Sundays, 1:00 PM Eastern Missouri: Wednesday Evenings Kansas: Monday Evenings We start this week with a great roundup by NC Newsline.

Gov. Josh Stein sent congressional leaders a letter asking them to spare Medicaid from budget cuts. About 3.1 million North Carolinians use the government health insurance.

The U.S. House is considering Medicaid cuts that could reach $880 billion over 10 years. North Carolina Medicaid Director Jay Ludlam told legislators last week a cut of that magnitude would mean a possible loss to North Carolina of $27 billion over 10 years. [Read more….]

As the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works to slash contracts, grants, and leases around the country, North Carolina is set to lose more than 20 U.S. government facilities.

Those losses — largely in the form of leases DOGE says it has terminated — include Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service offices, court buildings, and environmental and agricultural posts around the state. While the agency lists some as transferred to federal spaces, others are described as permanently closed.[Read more…]

Hundreds of scientists and students overtook Raleigh’s Halifax Mall Friday to call for an end to the Trump administration’s attacks on funding for the sciences and higher education, warning of calamity for North Carolina’s research economy.

Part of a nationwide “Stand Up for Science” protest that drew crowds from San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza to Boston Common — including a crowd of thousands outside the Lincoln Memorial — the demonstration at noon in Raleigh took aim at President Donald Trump’s cuts to cancer research, support of anti-vaccine activists, and threats toward universities around the country. [Read more…]

State officials charged with leading western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene have warned that there are years of rebuilding ahead.

But top state lawmakers made their expectations clear Thursday: they want shovels in the ground, and houses under construction, as soon as possible. [Read more…]

Women living in Winston-Salem whose husbands were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement visited the state Legislative Building in Raleigh on Wednesday to share their stories with lawmakers.

The visit comes a day after the state Senate approved and sent to the House a bill dubbed the North Carolina “Border Protection Act.” The legislation would require state agencies like the Department of Public Safety and Highway Patrol to enter agreements with ICE to assist with immigration enforcement.[Read more…]

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) has denied an appeal by Raleigh’s Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) to restore its accreditation. The historic HBCU was stripped of its accreditation by SACSCOC last December following a series of financial challenges. As NC Newsline previously reported, the college failed on multiple occasions to meet payroll, leaving faculty unpaid as they cancelled classes. [Read more…]

CHEROKEE, N.C. – On an overcast and chilly late winter morning, Simon Montelongo works in a room, clean as a laboratory, with fellow employees processing cannabis in various products. Montelongo, a lead processor at the Great Smoky Cannabis Co. farm, is one of over 225 employees with the company which continues to grow and expand.

The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., located in Cherokee, N.C., opened to the general public for sales of adult-use cannabis on Sept. 7, 2024. The dispensary is operated by Qualla Enterprises, LLC, an entity of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), which also operates a cannabis farm in Tsisqwohi (Birdtown) which supplies the dispensary.

Jack Wachacha, an EBCI tribal member, packages pre-rolls. On average, the facility is producing over 13,000 pre-rolls daily.

The Sept. 7 event was the third and final stage of opening for the dispensary. Sales of adult-use cannabis for EBCI tribal members as well as members of other federally recognized tribes opened on July 4, 2024, and medical cannabis sales opened on April 20, 2024.

Numerous cannabis products are sold at the dispensary from edibles to vapes to plant flowers.

Montelongo, an EBCI tribal member, leads a crew that works on producing some of these products. “With the guidance that I had, I was able to learn homogenizing the terps, glass and plastic hardware, and how we’re doing it to the standard of cleanliness. The standard of how our Cannabis Control Board wants the products produced. Everything that I’ve been trained on, I’ve seen it was able to be reciprocated to my entire team. <Read more>

FAIRVIEW, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein announced Friday that the FEMA application deadline would be extended until April 7.

This comes 24 hours before the previous deadline, which was Saturday, March 8.

Meanwhile, the two remaining FEMA centers are staying busy with walk-ins of people asking for help with their applications.

FEMA EXTENDS NC'S INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DEADLINE TO APRIL 7

“It is crowded in there,” said David Friede from Swannanoa. Friede said he was bringing documentation for his application and had more than $100,000 in damages from Helene.

“I talked to a gentleman who told me basically what I needed,” said Bruce Cravener, who lives in West Asheville. “We have a lot of private roads and bridges,” said Lillian Govus, spokesperson for Buncombe County. “If you live on one, absolutely apply for FEMA [assistance]."

CITY OF ASHEVILLE TO HOLD THREE SESSIONS ON $225 MILLION HUD FUNDING INPUT

Govus said that in order to receive funds for private roads and bridge work, residents must submit applications. The window to apply for a supplemental disaster unemployment check ends March 10. “I don't expect any last-minute claims coming in because right now we're probably getting less than ten a week,” said Antwan Keith, assistant secretary for employment security in North Carolina. <Read more>

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republicans who are resolved to promote President Donald Trump's agenda now seek to compel the recently elected Democratic governor to aid the president's immigration crackdown and stop the new Democratic attorney general from fighting Trump in court.

The North Carolina Senate advanced measures this week amplifying recent GOP-backed laws eroding powers of Democratic executive branch officials.

Emboldened by Trump's 3-point victory in November - his third in battleground North Carolina - Republicans approved a bill Tuesday that would force some law enforcement agencies who report to Gov. Josh Stein to cooperate with federal immigration agents. That would include having the State Bureau of Investigation, Department of Public Safety and adult correction system officially participate in the 287(g) program, which trains officers to interrogate defendants and determine their immigration status. <Read more>

On Tuesday at about 1 p.m., about 200 people marched down Franklin Street for the 50501: The People’s Movement March for Democracy.

The crowd had marched from the Chapel Hill Town Hall to the Peace and Justice Plaza, holding signs reading “Congress, where is your backbone,” “Dump Trump, be gone Elon” and "Save our democracy.”

Kate, the march's organizer who asked to be referred to by first name only out of concerns for her safety, said in a speech to the crowd that she was pleasantly surprised how many people attended, given she had very recently thrown together the event.

“When I heard that they [50501] were going to do one on March 4, which is March for Democracy, and because Trump is going to be speaking today to Congress, I went on their website,” Kate said. “At that time, eight days ago, there was no protest in North Carolina at all. And I kept checking back, and I didn't see one, so I decided to do one here in Chapel Hill.”

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