Asheville –
National School Board Association has lost 17 states, 40 percent of its budget
Since it sent a letter to the Biden administration describing parents who oppose critical race theory and mask mandates as potential “domestic terrorists,” the National School Boards Association (NSBA) has lost 17 state school board groups and taken a devastating hit to its budget. Along with the 17 state school board groups which have withdrawn from the NSBA, half of all groups in the country have downgraded their relationship with the headquarters. Most cite disillusionment with the inflammatory language used in the letter. Annual dues from the 17 chapters account for 40 percent of NSBA member collections.
N.C. budget includes $100 million teacher pay supplement for lower-wealth counties
The Tar Heel State’s budget for the new biennium includes $100 million in supplemental pay for public school teachers in some of the state’s smallest, poorest counties. The supplemental pay is valued at up to $4,250 per teacher but the exact value differs significantly across counties. The state’s larger, wealthier counties — including Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford and Durham — are excluded from the funds, but 95 of the state’s 100 counties will receive some level of funding. “These additional funds will provide rural counties with a new and much-needed tool to help attract and retain high-quality educators in underserved areas,” said Rep. Jeffrey Elmore, R-Wilkes, in a statement.
The provision is meant to bring smaller counties into greater parity with more populous ones in terms of supplemental pay. For example, counties such as Wake ($8,873), Mecklenburg ($8,773), and Guilford ($4,927) include generous supplements already from local funds. But counties such as Alleghany ($500), Ashe ($600), and Clay ($24) do not.
Gov. Cooper gives a 50-50 response to six final bills for 2021
N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper signed three bills into law Thursday, Dec. 9, but also vetoed three bills. Getting the veto stamp were House Bill 220, Choice of Energy, and Senate Bill 725, Prohibit Private Money in Elections Administration, which would have banned private groups from funding local elections offices in North Carolina. The issue came up when a group founded by Mark Zuckerberg provided money for elections in 2020 in communities that leaned Democrat. With these vetoes, Cooper set a new single-year high for himself and tied former Gov. Beverly Perdue’s record for the most vetoes in a year with 16. Cooper extends his record of most vetoes by a governor ever in North Carolina with 69. All previous N.C. governors combined had 35.
With Ivermectin in Hand, Wife Dies While Husband Begs Hospital to Administer
David DeLuca of Sicklerville, New Jersey will never know if the Ivermectin prescribed by an out-of-state doctor for his wife would have saved her life. Colleen DeLuca, 62, died of COVID-19 on Oct. 10, at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital in Sewell, New Jersey, before he could get a court order to administer the drug. Ivermectin has helped in some cases, but across the United States, many hospitals don’t include it in their COVID protocol for treatment and refuse to use it, even as a last effort on a dying patient.
Buffalo, New York attorney Ralph Lorigo has spent the last 11 months handling cases where the family wants to try Ivermectin and must get a court order to force hospitals to allow the drug to be administered. DeLuca had Lorigo draw up papers for court, but because Lorigo doesn’t practice in New Jersey, he instructed DeLuca to find a New Jersey attorney to file the papers and handle the case. However, DeLuca couldn’t find an attorney willing to take on the case.
Monument Destructions: Why?
Robert E Lee is, to this day, the only person to pass through the US Military Academy at West Point without a single demerit. In the Mexican War General Winfield Scott called him “the greatest soldier I’ve ever seen.” As an Army Engineer, he re-routed the Mississippi River and saved the city of St Louis. When he inherited slaves from his father-in-law, he educated them and set them free, and he referred to slavery as “a political and moral evil.” He turned down Lincoln ’s offer to Command the US Army that would invade the South and his home State of Virginia even though leading that Army would have certainly brought him international fame and likely the presidency. He instead offered his sword to Virginia and fought against that invasion for four years leading an Army that was vastly outnumbered, out supplied and out fed. After the war, as the most beloved figure on either side of the war, he turned down all of the opportunities that would have enriched him by refusing to sell his family name. He chose instead to take a job with meager pay at Washington College because he knew that rebuilding the country meant that we needed to raise men of high honor and character. His first act as Dean of the College was to build a Chapel. On Lee’s last visit to Richmond, a lady approached General Lee with an infant in her arms and asked, “Would you please hold my baby?” General Lee took the child, looked the woman in the eye and said, “you must teach him to deny himself.” Biographer Douglas Southall Freeman pointed out that this one statement characterized the entirety of how General Lee lived. As the end of his life was approaching Robert E Lee was asked, with all of his accomplishments, what should his headstone say. He answered, “that I am a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for my salvation.”
That a monument to this man has been taken down is a monument itself. The barren space where his memorial stood is a testament to the depraved depths to which the morality and character of our society
has fallen.