Latest news with #NorthCarolinians'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
OBGYN: My patients' health and wellbeing will be endangered by NC House bill
A teenage girl examines a pregnancy test. (Photo: Connect Images) Earlier this month, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 519, also known as the 'Parents' Medical Bill of Rights.' As a board certified OBGYN who treats minors, I am deeply concerned about the implications of this bill. This legislation, which aims to revise the laws regarding minors' consent to medical treatment and parental access to medical records, poses significant risks to the health and wellbeing of patients across the state. HB 519 will impede the trust young patients have in their medical providers and therefore undermine the confidentiality of their care. Currently, North Carolina law allows minors to consent to treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), pregnancy, substance abuse, and mental health issues without parental involvement. This provision is crucial for ensuring that young patients feel safe seeking medical help without fear of judgment or repercussions from their parents. By mandating parental consent for these sensitive treatments, the bill risks deterring minors from seeking necessary medical care. This could lead to untreated STIs (which can lead to future infertility), unaddressed mental health issues, and unintended pregnancies, all of which have serious long-term consequences for our young North Carolinians' health and wellbeing. The trust between patients and healthcare providers is foundational to effective medical care. Confidentiality is a cornerstone of this trust, particularly for minors who may be navigating complex and sensitive health issues. HB 519 threatens to erode this trust by introducing parental oversight into the patient-provider relationship. Healthcare providers may find themselves in difficult positions, having to balance the legal requirements of HB 519 with our ethical duty to protect patient confidentiality. Advocates for HB 519 argue that the exclusion of parental consent in our current laws leaves children to navigate serious medical situations alone. This perspective completely ignores the role that healthcare providers like myself play in the navigation of these issues. We do not leave our young patients 'alone' to navigate their medical decisions, but instead provide thoughtful guidance, including often suggesting the involvement of their parent(s) in their medical care. Unfortunately, for some of my young patients, their medical team members are the only trusted adults in their lives, and if they are required to obtain parental consent to seek treatment, they simply will not do so. House Bill 519, while ostensibly aimed at empowering parents, poses significant risks to the health and wellbeing of minors in North Carolina. By undermining confidentiality, creating barriers to mental health and reproductive care, and hindering substance abuse treatment, the bill jeopardizes the autonomy and safety of young patients. As a physician who treats young patients, I urge the lawmakers to reconsider the implications of HB 519 and prioritize the health and rights of minors in our state.
NBC News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Democrat elected to North Carolina Supreme Court after six-month legal battle
The final race of the 2024 election has finally been decided after Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin conceded to Justice Allison Riggs in a long-fought fight over a seat on North Carolina's Supreme Court. Justice Allison Riggs joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss the race and its potential long-term effect on North Carolinians' trust in the state's Supreme 9, 2025
Axios
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
North Carolina's 2024 Supreme Court race comes to an end after six months
The last undecided 2024 race in the country came to a close Wednesday, when Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin conceded to his Democratic opponent, incumbent Allison Riggs, the Associated Press reports. Why it matters: The move comes six months after the election and an extraordinary legal battle in which Griffin sought to overcome Riggs' lead of several hundred votes by throwing out tens of thousands of North Carolinians' ballots. Catch up quick: After months of back-and-forth over the case in state and federal courts, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Richard Myers dealt a decisive blow to Griffin on Monday in overturning two recent Republican-majority state court rulings in Griffin's favor. Retroactively invalidating votes cast in the 2024 election, which Griffin had sought to do, would violate voters' due process rights, Myers ruled. He ordered that the North Carolina State Board of Elections certify Riggs' win. "You establish the rules before the game," he wrote in his opinion. "You don't change them after the game is done." Driving the news: Griffin said Wednesday that he would not appeal the ruling. "While I do not fully agree with the District Court's analysis, I respect the court's holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case," Griffin said in a statement. "I will not appeal the court's decision." The other side: Riggs also released a statement, saying: "I'm glad the will of the voters was finally heard, six months and two days after Election Day." "It's been my honor to lead this fight - even though it should never have happened - and I'm in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people," Riggs said. State of play: Election officials' final vote tally after the November election showed Riggs in the lead by more than 600 votes. Two recounts, as requested by Griffin, showed Riggs leading by more than 700. Griffin subsequently challenged tens of thousands of ballots across the state, arguing that they should be tossed, despite the fact that they had followed the rules in place when they registered and cast their votes. When the state elections board rejected those protests, Griffin filed a lawsuit. In a recent decision, the state Supreme Court sided with a three-judge appeals court panel in ruling that some 260 ballots of voters who have allegedly never lived in the state should be thrown out. (An analysis by journalist Bryan Anderson found that dozens of those voters have, in fact, lived in North Carolina.) At the same time, the high court countered the appeals court and ruled that only military and oversees voters would need to cure their ballots by providing a copy of their voter identification or filling out an exception form, a far smaller number than the 60,000 ballots the appeals court said should be cured. Myers' ruling Monday rendered that ruling moot. Zoom in: Just one Supreme Court seat was up for election in 2024, and the only other Democrat on the court, Anita Earls, is up for reelection in 2026. Three Republican seats will be up for grabs in 2028, and two in 2030. Democrats hope to flip the court, which has a 5-2 Republican majority, before 2031, when the state legislature will redraw congressional and state legislative districts. A loss for Riggs would've made that difficult.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Stein announces more than $63 million of broadband projects across 30 counties
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCT) — Governor Josh Stein announced today more than $63 million in Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program projects to connect 18,889 households and businesses in 30 counties to high-speed internet. 'North Carolinians' need access to high-speed internet to connect them with friends and family, business opportunities, telehealth, and more,' Gov. Stein said. 'Broadband is key 21st Century infrastructure and these partnerships between counties across the state and internet providers will help connect more North Carolinians.' These projects will be awarded by NCDIT and are funded by more than $44 million from the federal American Rescue Plan and nearly $19 million from selected broadband providers: Bertie: Roanoke Connect Holdings, LLC (Fybe) This award will provide high-speed internet access to 1,380 homes and businesses (91.39% of the county's 1,510 eligible locations). Currituck: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed) This award will provide high-speed internet access to 1,354 homes and businesses (83.94% of the county's 1,613 eligible locations). Martin: Roanoke Connect Holdings, LLC (Fybe) This award will provide high-speed internet access to 215 homes and businesses (35.66% of the county's 603 eligible locations). Perquimans: Atlantic Telephone Membership Cooperative (FOCUS Broadband) This award will provide high-speed internet access to 121 homes and businesses (77.07% of the county's 157 eligible locations). Washington: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed) This award will provide high-speed internet access to 1,043 homes and businesses (96.48% of the county's 1,081 eligible locations). Wayne: Spectrum Southeast, LLC This award will provide high-speed internet access to 420 homes and businesses (13.96% of the county's 3,008 eligible locations). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AG reaches settlement on use of RealPage software
RALEIGH — North Carolina's Attorney General Jeff Jackson reached a settlement with Cortland Management LLC, one of the landlords he sued in January for illegally working with other landlords and using RealPage's AI software to raise North Carolinians' rents. Cortland is the second-largest North Carolina landlord of the ones Jackson sued, with more than 5,000 units. Once the settlement is entered by the court, Cortland will stop using non-public data from other landlords, either through RealPage's software or by other means, to set rents, making this one of the first settlements to restrict a major landlord from unlawfully using RealPage, according to a release. 'Today's settlement means one less landlord is using RealPage's unlawful AI software to charge North Carolinians unfair rents,' Jackson said. 'We're going to keep fighting this case to make sure all landlords and property managers play by the rules and people can afford rent.' As a result of this settlement with Jackson and Colorado's AG Philip J. Weiser, Cortland will: * Stop using sensitive data from its competitors to inform its pricing model. * Not use third-party software or algorithms to price apartments, unless they do so under the supervision of a court-appointed monitor. * Cease sharing or using any competitively sensitive data from other landlords and property managers to set rent prices or generate recommended rent prices. The agreement requires Cortland to report on its efforts to comply with the consent judgment, allows the attorneys general to conduct inspections to ensure Cortland is in compliance, and, if necessary, permits the AGs to enforce the terms of the agreement in court or extend the term of the agreement. Jackson's case from Jan. 7 against the other five landlords and software company RealPage continues. It includes AGs from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. Jackson is suing RealPage for allegedly exploiting landlords' competitively sensitive information to create a pricing algorithm that inflated rent prices and violated antitrust laws. Jackson alleges that these landlords communicated with RealPage and each other to share non-public information about rent prices, occupancy, strategies for setting rents, and discounts — resulting in higher prices for rent than competitive market forces would have set. These landlords own or manage more than 70,000 units throughout the state. The alleged illegal conduct harms North Carolinians who are struggling to pay rent and stay in their homes as rental prices increase, and they harm landlords who are trying to play fairly and follow the rules, according to the release.
