Asheville – Supremes rule on state discrimination against religious schools
Justices strike program that treated faith-based schools as 2nd class
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the state of Maine cannot discriminate against religious schools by excluding them from a state program that lets parents use vouchers to pay tuition for their children.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 majority opinion that explained Maine’s tuition program, which blocked the funds from being used at religious schools, cannot stand.
The ruling echoes a similar ruling from just a few years ago involving religious schools in Montana.
In the Maine case, a family argued that by excluding religious schools from the voucher program, the state was actively discriminating against religion.
Supremes rule on state discrimination against religious schools
Proposed amendment would make N.C. State Board of Education members elected
By David Bass, Carolina Journal
A proposed state constitutional amendment would make members of the North Carolina State Board of Education elected rather than appointed, a move that could shift the political balance of power on the state’s top educational governing body.
According to N.C. Rep. Jon Hardister, a Republican from Greensboro, the proposed amendment would provide “voters and parents with more influence over our education system. This would promote our objective of allowing parents to have more influence over their child’s education.”
Currently, 11 members of the state board are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature. Eight of those members represent each of the state’s eight educational regions, while three are at-large appointments. The lieutenant governor and the state treasurer are ex officio members, and the superintendent of public instruction is a non-voting member.
North Carolina’s Biggest Hospital Systems Made Record Profits While Taking Billions in COVID Relief Funds: Report
The Epoch Times
North Carolina’s largest hospital systems made billions of dollars in profits during the pandemic, while simultaneously taking $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds, according to a report released Wednesday by the state treasurer’s office.
The report, titled, “North Carolina Hospital Systems Profit During COVID” was published by State Treasurer Dale Folwell who called on the hospital systems to “use their profits to lower costs for patients” or “return unnecessary, taxpayer-funded relief dollars.”
According to the report, Atrium Health, Cone Health, Duke Health, Novant Health, UNC Health, Vidant Health, and WakeMed made a combined $5.2 billion in net profits in 2021 and recorded $7.1 billion in growth in cash and financial investments from 2019 to 2021.
Six of those hospital systems enjoyed higher net profits than in the years before the pandemic, the report states.
https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/north-carolinas-biggest-hospital-systems-made-record-profits-while-taking-billions-in-covid-relief-funds-report_4555373.html